An 18-year-old Eureka man and a 17-year-old Glencoe man have been arrested for allegedly using fireworks to damage a home and at least four mailboxes in Eureka. The incidents occurred July 21, Eureka Police reported.
At 10:18 p.m. that day, a 39-year-old Eureka woman called to report an explosion along the side of her home in the 800 block of Ashton Way Circle. The woman told officers she saw a dark-colored pickup missing its tailgate pull up next to the house and turn off its headlights. After a while, the pickup left the area, and a short time later, the explosion was heard, the report said.
Siding on the house was damaged, and brown paper associated with fireworks was found in the yard, according to the report.
While the police were investigating that explosion, they were called to Muir Street, which is about 3 1/2 miles from Ashton Way Circle, for reports of more explosions. A 50-year-old woman, a 25-year-old woman and a 55-year-old man said their mailboxes were damaged by explosions along that street. The three also reported seeing a pickup with a missing tailgate in the area prior to the fireworks going off, the report said.
An officer found a 1990 Ford F-150 matching the witnesses’ descriptions in the area and pulled over the pickup. The 17-year-old man, who was driving the pickup, told the officer he was in Eureka to drop off the 18-year-old at his home, but first were trying to get to a gas station on Hwy. 66, according to the report.
The officer informed the driver he was traveling in the wrong direction, and he took the two men to the homes where the mailboxes had been damaged. Each victim was able to identify the pickup as the one they saw before hearing the explosions, and one witness claimed the two men were in the pickup pointing and laughing at an exploded mailbox. The pickup also was identified by the woman who lives on Ashton Way Circle, the report said.
The two men were arrested and taken to the Police Station. One man refused to make a statement, while the other claimed it was a coincidence they were in the area when the explosions occurred, according to the report.
They were booked and later released pending application for warrants. Eureka Police will seek charges through the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office against the men for felony burning and exploding, Capt. David Wilson said.
Burning and exploding is a class E felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
On July 22, a 61-year-old Eureka man also reported that his mailbox was damaged by what appeared to be exploded fireworks. The man lives on Hunter Ford Road, which is near Muir Drive, and he said he heard an explosion July 21, Wilson said.
Wilson said the two men also are suspected of setting off fireworks that damaged that mailbox.