The Platte County Sheriff’s Department has made another arrest in one of the largest burglary rings in the county’s history.
Last week, the sheriff’s department served a warrant to the Decorator House at 1847 N.W. Vivion Road in Riverside after learning that one of the men arrested in connection with the ‘funeral day’ burglaries was allegedly “romantically involved” with the store’s owner.
Captain Frank Hunter said: “In dealing with the first two burglars, we discovered there was a romantic interest between (Dane) Johnson and Stephanie Reynold (Decorator House owner).
Reynold, who resides in Johnson County, Mo., is being held on a $15,000 bond for receiving stolen property, a Class C Felony.
“We found properties that appeared to be jointly owned and it led us to the Decorator House. Through further investigative process, we were able to get a search warrant and look for stolen property from the Platte County burglaries.”
Hunter said the alleged ‘funeral day’ burglars, Johnson and Landon Prothro, stole furniture from model homes in southern Platte County, as well as striking homes of mourners attending funeral services of family members.
“They were hitting model home furniture in the south and putting it in the Decorator House and over 50% of the stock was stolen merchandise,” reported Hunter.
Hunter estimated the total retail value of the items stolen between $500,000 to $750,000.
The sheriff’s department executed four search warrants on Friday, including one in Johnson County, Mo., two in Claycomo and one at the Decorator House in the Eastbrook Plaza shopping center.
Along with finding stolen merchandise at the Decorator House, authorities searched two storage lockers in Claycomo and found stolen goods thought to be connected to the ring, according to Hunter.
A stolen trailer loaded with stolen items was also discovered at a farm in Johnson County, Mo.
Johnson, 32, and Prothro, 30, both of Kansas City, North, were arrested Feb. 10 and charged with one count of first-degree burglary and three counts of second-degree burglary.
Hunter reported Johnson was free on $50,000 bond but arrested again on Friday and charged with another count of first-degree burglary. Johnson is now back in the Platte County Jail with a cash-only bond of $50,000.
The sheriff’s department also obtained a second warrant in conjunction with other agencies who had victims targeted by the burglars.
“We had received information from other jurisdictions about stolen property from those jurisdictions which we identified in the Decorator House during our first search warrant,” stated Hunter.
“We, as Platte County, obtained a second search warrant to go back in and look for more stolen property in conjunction with other agencies so they could retrieve property taken from their jurisdictions.”
Authorities from jurisdictions such as Raymore, Shawnee and Lenexa, were on sight to help identify stolen goods.
“This is the biggest burglary ring we have done through Platte County. These guys were very organized,” stated Hunter.
While Platte County has nearly completed its investigation of the burglaries, Hunter said the department will continue to work with the other jurisdictions.
“We’re pretty much completing the investigation of our burglaries but we will continue to cooperate with outside agencies in the recovery of their properties and provide assistance in their investigations,” said Hunter.