A House Springs woman has been placed on five years’ probation after admitting to helping her boyfriend after he stole two guns and other equipment from an off-duty police officer’s car in St. Peters, court records show.
Mary M. Wheeling, 45, who also has a listed address in Byrnes Mill, pleaded guilty to three counts of accessory to stealing in July for the theft that occurred in April 2025. On Oct. 27, she was sentenced to three years in prison for each felony count, but the judge suspended the execution of the sentence and placed her on probation, court documents said.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, Wheeling drove Trenton Robert Anthony Hochthurn, who is identified as Wheeling’s boyfriend, and two other people from Jefferson County to St. Peters on April 19, 2025. Wheeling dropped the other two people off at separate businesses in St. Peters, and she parked the car she was driving next to another car after the second person got out.
Hochthurn, 28, of House Springs got out of the car Wheeling was driving, and he entered the car they had parked next to in the parking lot. He stole a rifle, handgun, backpack, police ballistic vest, radio and a suppressor from the other car, the report said.
Excluding the guns, the stolen items were worth $6,035, according to the report.
Hochthurn then got back into the car with Wheeling, and she drove away from the business that the second passenger had entered. She then drove to the business where the first passenger, a woman, had entered, the report said.
When the woman got into the car with Wheeling and Hochthurn, she was told that Hochthurn had stolen two guns. The woman started recording a video on her cell phone, and Hochthurn said “if he goes down, they are all going down for this,” according to the report.
Wheeling said she was afraid to go back to the second business where the other passenger got out of the car. Wheeling was told to pull over, and the other woman hid some of the stolen items in a bush before Wheeling drove to pick up the other passenger, the report said.
After the second person got into the car and learned what happened, the two passengers got out of the car, and Wheeling drove away with Hochthurn, according to the report.
In October 2025, Hochthurn was sentenced to a 120-day treatment program in the state prison system. He was released in February, but recent court documents show he allegedly violated the terms of his parole and now faces up to five years in prison.