MAN, TEEN-AGER HELD IN CAPE THEFTS

Additional burglaries may be charged to a 26-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy who are being held responsible for thefts at Cape Girardeau businesses.

A Cape Girardeau boy and Steven Ray Wages of Chester, Ill., were stopped by police about 1:45 a.m. on Wednesday in the 400 block of South Kingshighway, Lt. Carl Kinnison said.

Although the two are charged in two burglaries, police said additional charges may be filed in connection with some of the 60 burglaries that have been reported since February. Of those, 40 burglaries occurred at businesses.

The arrests were the first made by police on multiple burglary charges this year, Kinnison said.

Officer Rodney Edwards stopped the vehicle driven by Wages after another patrolman told him that the 1992 Dodge Shadow had been parked and left unattended for some time on a vacant lot off Petroleum Avenue.

Burglary items found

Inside the vehicle, Edwards found items that had been reported stolen in burglaries Dec. 2 and last Friday.

A knife and credit cards had been stolen last Friday from Memco Barge Lines at 2097 Corporate Circle. On Dec. 2, money and keys to vending machines were taken from Wiethop Trucks at 2350 Independence St.

Burglars' tools were also found in the car, police said.

The bolt cutters and crowbar found in the car were likely burglars' tools because access was achieved at the two businesses through either prying open a door or window, Kinnison said.

"It's a difficult charge to prove because you have to show intent," he said.

Wages is charged with two counts of burglary, two counts of stealing and one count of possession of burglars' tools. The 15-year-old boy was taken into custody and cited for curfew violation.

Wages is being held at the Cape Girardeau city jail on a bond of $100,000. The boy was turned over to juvenile officers.

Typically, 325 burglaries are reported a year in Cape Girardeau, police said. Of these, about 20 percent are solved compared to a national average of 14 percent by other law enforcement agencies.