Alleged thief gets lesson in name dropping

It would be a lesson taught in the first few days of thief class: When discarding a purse that you have just stolen ... from a car that you just broke into and left your fingerprints on ... don't leave your own insurance card inside the purse.

That fundamental mistake gave Jackson police a way to track down a Cape Girardeau man who has been charged for the theft of $6,400 in property, a Class C felony. He also was charged with second-degree property damage for allegedly breaking a car window.

The suspect, Michael A. McCoy, 38, made his first appearance in court Thursday on the charges. Police allege he broke into a car on Bel Air Street in Jackson on Sept. 1 and stole about 380 compact discs, a stereo, a CD player and a purse that contained, among other things, $100 in cash.

Three days later, maintenance workers stumbled upon the purse while mowing the median along U.S. 61 near Cape Girardeau County Park, Jackson Lt. James Humphreys said. Cape Girardeau police collected the evidence and turned it over to Jackson.

Humphreys said the suspect did not know the victim. He said some of the victim's CDs have been recovered. A probable-cause statement noted that one of the CDs had the victim's name written on it in black marker.

"I don't know how it happened," Humphreys said. "Somehow, his paperwork got thrown out with hers. The insurance card had his name and vehicle, and it was picked up with the victim's property. That's great for us; bad for him."

bmiller@semissourian.com

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