Burglary call results in arrests, recovery of firearms, jewelry
Posted May 23, 2008
Witnesses getting a vehicle tag, along with cooperative efforts among several law enforcement agencies, has resulted in two arrests and the recovery of stolen firearms and jewelry that could solve at least three burglary cases and possibly more.
Pottawatomie County Sheriff Kurt Shirey said this investigation began to unfold Sunday afternoon when they responded to a burglary call in the Pink area.
The first officer to arrive was David Haskins, an Absentee Shawnee tribal officer, Shirey said. Sheriff’s deputies were busy on another call before Deputy Scott Hawkins arrived. Witnesses described a suspicious vehicle in the area and took down the vehicle’s tag number for law enforcement. Monday, a vehicle matching that description was found in an area of Perry Road and Homer Lane in Shawnee, Shirey said, after someone saw the driver crash into a ditch. When law enforcement arrived, the vehicle was abandoned. The tag matched the description from Sunday’s call. Shirey said the vehicle was registered to Eric Thomas Rose, 25. Shirey said deputies believed he was still in the area, so a search began with help from Shawnee police and Absentee and Citizen Potawatomi Nation tribal police.
About one mile south of the area, Deputy Ray Ingram located Rose, Shirey said. Rose is on probation and was supposed to be wearing an ankle monitor, the sheriff said, but it had been removed. Some stolen property was found in Rose’s vehicle, the sheriff said, and after interviews and other information surfaced in this probe, deputies found additional stolen property of firearms and jewelry. Total value was estimated between $4,000 and $5,000, Shirey said.
The investigation is ongoing, but Shirey said they should be able to clear at least three other burglary cases with the recovered property, which has been identified to its owners. Rose and a second suspect, Brian Burnette Johnson, 31, were arrested as part of this case, Shirey said. Both men were jailed Tuesday at the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center on complaints including knowingly concealing stolen property. Rose also was being held on a complaint of being in possession of firearms. Bond for Rose was set at $15,000, while bond for Johnson was set at $10,000. Court records show Rose was on probation for a 2002 Pottawatomie County charge of knowingly concealing stolen property.
The sheriff’s office will turn case reports over to the district attorney’s office for consideration of any formal charges in this case.