Steven Deering, 33, of High Ridge has been sentenced to 25 years in prison after admitting to assaulting a woman, stealing a car and threatening a different woman and children before breaking into a Barnhart home, court records show.
Deering on Oct. 28 pleaded guilty to vehicle hijacking (vulnerable person) and two counts of first-degree burglary. Jefferson County Div. 4 Circuit Judge Brenda Stacey sentenced him to 25 years for hijacking and 15 years for each burglary charge, court documents said.
Deering, who was on probation at the time of the attack and burglary, also had his probation revoked and a 10-year prison sentence executed for a robbery he had pleaded guilty to in October 2022, according to court records.
He will serve all four sentences concurrently, or at the same time, for a total of 25 years, court documents said.
Jefferson County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Courtney Goodwin prosecuted the case.
According to the probable-cause statement, Deering assaulted a woman and stole her 2017 Toyota Corolla on March 22 in Maplewood. He then drove the car to a home in the 6500 block of Haven Hill Road in Barnhart.
At the Haven Hill Road home, Deering approached someone outside the home asking for help but was told to leave, the report said.
The person Deering spoke with at the home went inside to call 911 because Deering refused to leave, and in the meantime, another person – a woman – returned home and drove a vehicle into the garage and parked. Deering assaulted that woman in the garage and stole the vehicle she had been driving, according to the report.
He then drove to a nearby home in the 6500 block of Dry Creek Road, where a woman and three children between the ages of 1 and 5 were playing in the yard. He told the woman and children he was the “Messiah” and they should get inside to be safe, the report said.
The woman took the children inside, locked the door and barricaded herself and the children in a bedroom. Deering then broke a window in an attempt to unlock the door but couldn’t open the door, so he went to another window and broke it and climbed through to get into the home, the probable-cause statement said.
Deering was unable to get into the room the woman and children had barricaded themselves into before a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived, the report said.
Cpl. Christopher Gearon, who has SWAT training, kicked in the front door of the home where the woman and children were trapped inside and arrested Deering. The woman and three children were not injured, the Sheriff’s Office reported.
“I don’t want to speculate on what would have happened without intervention, but Cpl. Gearon’s quick actions to protect innocent persons without regard for what was on the other side of the door speaks volumes of his character and the officers who work for the Sheriff’s Office,” Sheriff Dave Marshak said in a statement released in March announcing the arrest. “I applaud his actions”