MACON — A Kirksville man faces a felony property damage charge in Macon County Circuit Court after prosecutors allege he cut his way into five storage units in La Plata and left with their contents loaded in the bed of a pickup truck.
Roy R. Robinson, 58, Kirksville, was charged April 24 with one count of first-degree property damage, a class D felony under Missouri law. Case No. 26MA-CR00120 was filed by Macon County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Meisner. A Macon County judge issued a warrant for Robinson’s arrest the same day and set bond at $10,000 cash only.
According to a probable cause statement filed by La Plata Police Officer Mark E. Henderson, the owner of a storage facility at 1000 N. Brown St. in La Plata contacted police on April 19 to report that units 61 through 65 had been broken into by someone who cut the door slides. The owner told Henderson she had surveillance video of a white Chevrolet extended cab pickup arriving with an empty bed and leaving with several items loaded in back. The incident is alleged to have occurred around 7 p.m. on April 17.
Henderson wrote that La Plata Police Chief Bunch spotted a truck matching the description later that evening traveling southbound on Brown Street. Henderson made contact with the driver, identified by his Missouri driver’s license as Robinson, who told the officer he had only owned the truck for about a week and said he was with a friend on the night of the break-in. Robinson consented to a search of the truck; no items were found inside.
The case turned on electronic monitoring. According to the probable cause statement, Henderson learned during the stop that Robinson was on probation and wearing a GPS ankle monitor. Henderson contacted Robinson’s probation officer, who provided location data from the monitor for the night of April 17. That data, Henderson wrote, placed Robinson at the scene of the break-in.
Henderson also reported receiving information from a source who told him Robinson had allegedly used a Samsung dryer and Samsung refrigerator as a down payment on the pickup truck he was driving. A Samsung dryer and a Samsung refrigerator were among the items reported taken from the storage units, according to the statement.
First-degree property damage as a class D felony carries a potential sentence of up to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and a fine of up to $10,000, under Missouri’s felony sentencing statutes.
The charges in a criminal complaint are allegations; every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.