John Matthew Berry
John Matthew Berry, 54, has been charged with burglary for allegedly breaking into and stealing from a business in a retail complex on Jeffco Boulevard near Telegraph Road in Arnold. Police believe he also is responsible for at least four other burglaries in the same shopping plaza, as well as burglaries in Jefferson County, St. Louis County, Kirkwood, Shrewsbury, Ellisville and O’Fallon, Mo., the probable-cause statement in the case said.
The Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office charged Berry on Dec. 6 with second-degree burglary, a class D felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
He was being held in Jefferson County Jail.
Berry, who does not have a current address and told investigators he is homeless, allegedly was seen in surveillance video breaking into the Tribe Salon and Spa, 3924 Jeffco Blvd, in Arnold at about 6:45 a.m. Nov. 25. He allegedly used a hatchet to break the salon’s glass door, and when he was inside, he attempted to open a cash drawer but when he couldn’t, he stole the drawer, the probable-cause statement said.
The cost to repair the shattered glass door was $624.95, and it cost $64.95 to replace the cash drawer. Berry also allegedly stole $100 that was in the register, the report said.
Arnold Police were able to identify Berry by the dark blue hooded sweatshirt, jeans, medical mask and gloves he reportedly was wearing in the salon because surveillance video from a nearby gas station showed him wearing the same items minutes before the alleged burglary, according to the report.
Arnold Police believe Berry also is responsible for burglaries at four other businesses in the shopping center, including the Local House Restaurant and Bar, 3946 Jeffco Blvd.; Good 4-U Nutrition, 3940 Jeffco Blvd.; Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, 3936 Jeffco Blvd.; and K Nails, 3934 Jeffco Blvd., Arnold Police reported.
The restaurant and tax service business were not entered, but damage to the doors at those businesses was estimated at $1,000 each, according to a report.
About $75 was missing from a cash box at Good 4-U Nutrition, and the owner said nine checks were missing from the store’s checkbook. The damage to the store’s door was estimated at $1,000, the report said.
At K Nails, a cash register was damaged and about $80 was taken from it. The business owner estimated it would cost $500 to repair the register and $1,000 to repair the door, Arnold Police reported.
In the surveillance video from Nov. 28, a white 2008 Ford F-150 truck was seen in video around the businesses that were burglarized, and Berry allegedly told Arnold Police the pickup belongs to him, the probable-cause statement said.
He said he lives in it, parking at “random parking lots.” He also allegedly said that was why his pickup was seen in the video as well as in videos around where burglaries occurred in Shrewsbury and Kirkwood, the report said.
When an Arnold Police officer searched the F-150, he allegedly found a mask, one glove, black pants, a brown belt, brown boots and the hatchet that investigators believe Berry used to break the salon’s glass door. The officer did not find the blue hooded sweatshirt, but he allegedly found a jacket with the same emblem that was seen on the sweatshirt. There was electric tape over the jacket’s emblem in an apparent attempt to hide it, according to the report.
Investigators believe Berry is responsible for at least 12 burglaries at nail salons and other businesses outside Arnold, the report said.
Berry was recently released from prison and is on parole for first-degree robbery and armed criminal action. He allegedly told investigators he is afraid to go back to prison and when he gets out of jail, he doesn’t know where he will go, according to the report.
He also previously was sentenced to 18 years in prison and completed prison sentences for first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary, felony possession of controlled substances and receiving stolen property, according to court records.