A former Jefferson County man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after he entered Alford pleas for 35 felony charges that were filed against in him in Jefferson County. The charges were filed for crimes committed between November 2023 and August 2024, according to court documents.
Cameron Michael Shinkle, 36, who had lived in Arnold and De Soto, was sentenced on July 17 by Jefferson County Div. 3 Circuit Judge Travis Partney. Shinkle entered Alford pleas for 13 counts of stealing a motor vehicle, nine counts of second-degree burglary, three counts of first-degree property damage, three counts of felony stealing, two counts of tampering, two counts of stealing a firearm, one count of possession of a controlled substance, one count of resisting arrest and one count of first-degree burglary, court records show.
By entering an Alford plea, Shinkle did not admit guilt but agreed there was sufficient evidence to find him guilty of the offense.
On July 17, Partney also revoked Shinkle’s probation. In February 2024, Shinkle was convicted of possession of a controlled substance, and after his 10-year prison sentence was suspended, he was placed on five years’ probation, court documents said.
Jefferson County assistant prosecuting attorney Neilson Lea prosecuted the case.
Shinkle was arrested in August 2024 in south St. Louis County after he allegedly burglarized a dialysis center. He also was charged with multiple felonies in Franklin and St. Louis counties.
When Shinkle was sentenced in Jefferson County, he was already serving a seven-year sentence at the Ozark Correctional Center in Fordland after being convicted on charges for second-degree burglary, possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest by fleeing and resisting or interfering with an arrest, Missouri Department of Corrections records show.
On Nov. 30, 2023, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office deputies located Shinkle by using a drone after he was seen trespassing on private property in Dittmer. Shinkle initially ran from the deputies, but he stopped and was arrested in a wooded area, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
When Shinkle was arrested, he was laying on a black case that had a crystal-like substance and glass smoking device inside of it. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine, the report said.
Shinkle also stole a game camera, which was worth about $180, from a nearby home, according to the report.
On June 5, 2024, Shinkle entered a home through an unlocked door and stole a security camera, a Sheriff’s Office deputy wrote in a probable-cause statement.
On July 10, 2024, Shinkle pried open the front and back doors of a vacant trailer, causing $1,625 worth of damage, and he and a woman stole a 2008 Kawaski motorcycle and a 1985 Honda ATC 200X motorcycle from a barn at a different location, according to the case’s probable-cause statement.
Shinkle and the woman then rode the motorcycles to a different home, where Shinkle got them into the basement through a sliding glass door. He then gathered multiple cell phones from the home and placed them next to his book bag and helmet, but he and the woman left the home without the phones. However, Shinkle did steal multiple iced tea drinks at the home, and he and the woman later drank the stolen beverages, the report said.
On July 14, 2024, Shinkle stole a jewelry box that had $10,700 worth of jewelry inside it from a home after the victim’s caretaker allowed him to enter the house, a probable-cause statement filed by the Sheriff’s Office said.
Probable-cause statements filed by the Sheriff’s Office connect Shinkle to multiple crimes that occurred between July 18-29, 2024.
On July 18, Shinkle stole a 2014 Kawasaki motorcycle that was stolen from a porch. On July 24, Shinkle returned to the home on the stolen motorcycle and was confronted by the victim, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.
Shinkle ran away when the victim confronted him, leaving behind the motorcycle and tools that he had stolen from a metal lock box that also belonged to the victim, a report said.
On July 20, Shinkle and another person stole a 2023 Kawaski motorcycle and a 2005 Honda motorcycle from a business. Shinkle was seen riding the Kawaski by deputies the next day, and he fled from them by riding on the shoulder and between lanes on Hwy. 30, according to the report.
On July 23, Shinkle also broke a barn door, causing less than $500 worth of damage, but he did not steal items from the barn, the report said.
Also on July 24, Shinkle stole a 1989 Ford Mustang from a nearby home after he abandoned the stolen Kawasaki motorcycle. The fence and back door of a partially enclosed carport were damaged before the car was stolen, according to the report.
The cost to repair the damage at the home was estimated to be more than $750, the report said.
On July 25, Shinkle and another man broke into a storage shed at a business and stole a 2001 Kawaski motorcycle, 2007 Honda motorcycle and 2003 Suzuki motorcycle. The two were seen in surveillance video pushing the motorcycles away from the business, the case’s probable-cause statement said.
On July 29, Shinkle broke into a shed and stole a four-wheeler battery at home that was near a business where he had stolen a 2010 Kawasaki motorcycle from that same day. He also was seen trying to enter another home’s garage by using an unknown tool, which caused more than $1,000 worth of damage to the garage’s door, the report said.
Also on July 29, a 2006 Yamaha motorcycle and a 2010 Kawaski motorcycle were stolen after glass on an automotive bay was shattered at a business. Shinkle was seen pushing the Yamaha motorcycle, and he ran away when he was confronted, according to the report.
On July 31, Shinkle was seen in surveillance video stealing a 2006 Chevrolet Silverado with an attached trailer, which had a riding lawnmower and other lawn equipment that was worth more than $6,000. He also entered a home that day and stole two guns and a cell phone, according to a probable-cause statement filed by the Sheriff’s Office.
Between July 31 and Aug. 1, 2024, Shinkle tampered with a four-wheeler and stole a different four-wheeler from a different home. At about 7:20 p.m. July 31, he uncovered a four-wheeler that was under a tarp in a car port and attempted to bypass the ignition by twisting two wires together, a probable-cause statement filed by the Sheriff’s Office said.
After failing to start the four-wheeler, Shinkle went to another home at about 1 a.m. Aug. 1 and threw a rock through a detached garage window. After he entered the garage, he stole a 2008 Yamaha Grizzly 700 and a three-ton hydraulic floor jack, the report said.
The four-wheeler and floor jack were worth a combined $426, and the cost to repair the window was $600, according to the report.