$200,000 In Stolen Property Recovered from Accused Burglars
Over $200,000 worth of stolen property has been recovered by Missoula County Sheriff’s Detectives, allegedly taken by two men taken into custody on August 3 after residents who were out of town reported a burglary via video at their home.
We spoke to Missoula County Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Jeannette Smith about the results of their investigation.
“This work was done over the last several weeks and it led the sheriff's office to recover more than $200,000 in stolen property,” said Smith. “It started with an August 3 incident in the 9000 block of Tucker Lane, where a homeowner that was on vacation reported seeing two males accessing their home via security camera. This then resulted in the arrest of the two males.”
Detectives were able to secure a search warrant for other property where they suspected that stolen property was stored.
“Information obtained from the August 3 incident resulted in a search warrant that was served at a separate residence where Missoula County detectives and deputies recovered several items of stolen property,” she said. “Following that on Thursday, August 11, detectives and deputies continued to follow leads to a residence in the Potomac area, where again numerous pieces of stolen property were recovered.”
Smith said even more stolen property was recovered through the search warrants.
“Information gathered at the scene in Potomac led to the recovery of additional stolen property along Highway 12 in the Graves Creek area,” she said. “The recovery of the stolen property solves multiple cases of theft and burglary reported to both Missoula County Sheriff's Office and the city of Missoula Police Department over the last several months.”
Smith related the thanks for all the hard work by detectives and deputies from Missoula County Sheriff T.J. McDermott.
“We are fortunate to have dedicated detectives who put the extra time and effort in to recover property for Missoula County residents, and that's stated by our Sheriff TJ McDermott,” she said. “He also goes on to say and would like to express that we are proud of the exceptional investigative work that has been done in these cases. This is a win for all those in Missoula County.”
Anyone with information related to these incidents is asked to contact Detective Sunderland at 406-531-0766.