A 24-year-old Bonne Terre man has been charged with three felonies for allegedly burglarizing Festus Lumber and stealing a pickup from the Walmart parking lot in the Twin Cities, court records show.
Tyler A. Carter was charged with two counts of felony first-degree burglary and one count of felony stealing a motor vehicle, the report said.
Just before 11:30 p.m. Jan. 13, a Festus Lumber employee got a call about an alarm sounding at the business, went there and allegedly caught Carter burglarizing the business, so the employee held the suspect at gunpoint until Festus Police arrived, the probable-cause statement said.
Once officers got to the scene, they took Carter into custody and while searching him, they allegedly found him with several keys and key fobs and a Festus Lumber Co. placard for a 2015 Ford F650 truck that was inside a garage on the store property, the report said.
In addition, some of the keys officers allegedly found Carter with went to two trucks found outside the garage, and at least one of the trucks was found with the driver’s door open. The store employee said the vehicles are never left outside the garage like that, which meant someone had moved them, according to the report.
Carter was booked and released the next morning, but it wasn’t long before he again caught the Festus Police Department’s attention.
At about 3:30 p.m. Jan. 14, Carter allegedly stole a 2002 Chevrolet 2500HD pickup off the Walmart parking lot. It had been left unlocked with the keys inside. In addition, a handgun that was inside the pickup was stolen. Later, the pickup was set on fire in Pilot Knob, the probable-cause statement said.
After reviewing surveillance footage from Walmart, Festus Police identified Carter as the person who allegedly stole the pickup and later learned he had been taken into custody in Ironton, Festus Police Chief Tim Lewis said.
The Sheriff’s Office arrested him and the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office filed the felony charges against Carter on Jan. 17.
He was being held today (Jan. 25) in the Jefferson County Jail on a $15,000 bond.