The weather helped the Washington County Sheriff’s Department with an arrest of a Salem man on burglary and theft charges.
According to Washington County Sheriff, deputies responded to a burglary in the Pekin area on Saturday.
“We were called back on Monday when we had a tip that a vehicle was stuck in the mud,” said Newlon, who contributed that to the Sunday night rain.
Randall L. Cozart, 52, 108 N. Fair Street, was brought in for for questioning.
According to Deputy Brent Miller, information was obtained to connect Cozart with burglaries at Western Auto in Salem, where 16 tires were reported stolen.
Police obtained a search warrant and recovered a treasure trove of items Cozart has allegedly stolen — more than 400 items.
“We think he was involved in a burglary at Tractor Supply,” said Newlon. “We found cases of garden seeds.”
Newlon also said power tools, chain saws, air compressors, lawn mowers and many other items were recovered from a trailer at the Fairview Trailer Park.
“He had been stockpiling things there,” said Newlon. “There was a shed there and there was even a door where you could go in under the trailer and that was full.”
In fact, Miller said he has between 400-500 pictures. “There is a good possibility most of this is stolen but we’re not sure where it’s stolen from.”
Newlon encouraged anybody in the area who has recently lost items in a theft to contact the Sheriff’s Department at 812.883.2834 and schedule a time to come in and identify their items with the photographs.
Newlon said authorities believe Cozart was breaking into the same house again on Monday when he became stuck.
Miller said Cozart will likely be charged with thefts in the City of Salem.
