Man steals guns, rings, passports after making himself a sandwich during break-in, police say

A Cape Girardeau man stole nine guns, three diamond rings and other items from a Cape Girardeau County home March 18, police said.

The Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney's Office charged Thomas S. Dudley, 57, with eight counts of stealing a firearm and one count of first-degree burglary Wednesday. All nine charges are felonies.

According to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Cape Girardeau County sheriff's detective Cpl. Jamie Malugen, Cape Girardeau police responded March 22 to a disturbance in the 700 block of North Sprigg Street and found Dudley in a dull black 1995 Mazda that matched the description of a vehicle seen previously in the driveway of a residence in Cape Girardeau County that had been burglarized.

Police found many items in Dudley's car that were reported stolen during that burglary, Malugen wrote, including seven long guns, two handguns, three diamond rings, a game camera, a Nikon camera with two lenses, a backpack with various ammunition, a duffel bag and a gun-cleaning kit.

When questioned, Dudley told Malugen he'd parked at the home in the 4800 block of Highway 177 after running out of gas around noon March 18, Malugen wrote.

Dudley said nobody answered the door when he knocked, so he went around the back of the house to look for a gas can and entered the residence through a back door he said he found open, Malugen wrote.

Once inside, he fixed a sandwich and drank a soda he found upstairs before barricading the front door, "so no one would walk in on him while he was down in the basement of the residence," Malugen wrote.

He then took the guns, jewelry and a small safe that contained passports and Social Security cards of the homeowner's family, Malugen wrote. The passports were discovered in an envelope under the dashboard of Dudley's vehicle, according to the statement.

Dudley's bond was set at $25,000.

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573)388-3627

Pertinent address:

4800 block of State Highway 177, Cape Girardeau, Mo.