The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged three North Carolina residents for stealing lawn mowers and using stolen credit cards to purchase items at the Dickey Bub Farm and Home store, 100 Hilltop Village Center Drive, in Eureka, court records show.
Robert Knotts, 26, and Devon Reid, 27, both of Charolette, N.C., and Angel Williams, 29, of Gastonia, N.C., on June 3 were each charged with stealing $25,000 or more, a class C felony punishable by three to 10 years in prison, and two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, a class E felony that carries a penalty of up to four years in prison, according to court documents.
Eureka Police Lt. Michael Tapp said no arrests had been made.
According to the case’s probable-cause statement, Knotts, Reid and Williams at about 5 p.m. April 10 purchased multiple chainsaws and a zero-turn lawn mower at Dickey Bub. The three provided credit card numbers to the cashier to complete the purchases, charging $3,499.97 to one card and $4,420.51 to another.
The three had also provided other credit card numbers that were declined, and investigators learned the credit card numbers used to complete the purchases had been stolen. The three were seen leaving the store in a Chevrolet Silverado that had an unlicensed flatbed trailer attached to it, the report said.
Knotts and Reid were allegedly seen in surveillance video outside the store between about 2:45 a.m. to 3:52 a.m. April 11, stealing six zero-turn lawn mowers worth a total of $32,244. The two were wearing the same clothes that they had on when they purchased items the day before, and they loaded the lawn mowers on the trailer and drove away in the pickup that also was previously seen in surveillance video, according to the report.
After the alleged theft, Eureka Police saw the Silverado traveling with a Ford U-Haul truck in Flock license-plate reading camera video and determined the U-Haul had been rented in Fenton. The U-Haul locations manager told investigators that Knotts and Reid had rented the truck, the report said.
The pickup and U-Haul truck were seen by the Flock system late in the day in Gastonia, N.C., on April 11. A Gastonia Police officer on June 14 went to Williams’ home and allegedly saw the flatbed trailer that was seen outside of Dickey Bub, according to the report.
Investigators also learned that Reid listed lawn mowers and lawn care equipment for sale on Facebook Marketplace. They were able to contact a man in North Carolina who purchased a lawn mower through the site, and he said he bought it from two men at Williams’ home, the report said.
The man who purchased the lawn mower identified Reid and Knotts as the men who sold him the lawn mower, according to the report.
Investigators also learned that on March 22, Williams and Reid attempted to buy chainsaws using stolen credit card information at a Dickey Bub Farm and Home store in Wentzville. The purchases were denied, and the two were seen in surveillance video leaving in a Kia Sedona, the report said.
Williams had rented the Sedona in North Carolina, and investigators obtained her phone records that placed her at the car rental location on April 9, in St. Louis on April 10 and near the Eureka Dickey Bub on April 11 during the time of the alleged lawn mower thefts, according to the probable-cause statement.