Two Joplin men face burglary and other charges in connection with the break-in of a cargo container at a Newton County home heavily damaged by the May 10 tornado.
Joseph A. Tracy, 30, and John C. Gage, 20, both of Joplin, are accused of breaking into the container behind an unoccupied residence on BB Highway in Newton County.
In a probable cause affidavit filed Sunday, Newton County deputy Terry Nenneman said he observed a pickup truck sitting behind the container, which had been broken into several times before.
“As I approached, one pickup was trying to jump start the other, with three male subjects,” Nenneman said. “After investigating, a hacksaw was in the back of Joseph Tracy’s pickup with plastic shreds on the blade matching a plastic cover over cable halfway cut through securing the container.”
Nenneman wrote that property from the damaged home, a shed and the yard was in front and behind the truck.
“Many other items were in piles taken from the house, which had not been loaded into the pickup yet,” he wrote.
Nenneman said the property owner arrived shortly afterward and identified the property in the truck and items around it and in the yard as his. The owner also described where the property had come from, the deputy noted in his report, and larger items were valued at more than $1,000.
Nenneman said a search of the truck revealed a pink camera with a small plastic bag in the battery compartment. A field test of the substance inside the bag tested positive for methamphetamine, the deputy said in the affidavit.
Gage told authorities he rode to the location with Tracy from Missouri Highway 86, and another man arrived to jump start their truck. The other man was not charged in the incident.
Both men face a Class C felony count of second-degree burglary and a Class C felony stealing charge. Tracy also faces a Class C count of possession of a controlled substance. Each of the charges carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison if a conviction is reached.
Both men are scheduled to be in Judge Greg Stremel’s Division II Associate Circuit Courtroom on Jan. 27 for pre-trial conferences. Both have also been given applications to seek a public defender.
