Burglars find you snooze, you lose
A lack of motivation to get out of bed in the morning has landed two local men behind bars after a late hotel checkout had them checking in to the Warren County Jail.
The suspects, T.J. Horn and Michael Mosca are both charged with burglary and theft for breaking into the Grasshopper game room Thursday morning. They were arrested, hours after the burglary, in a room at Comfort Inn, located directly next door to the game room.
According to McMinnville Police Capt. Bryan Denton, police were called to the Grasshopper late Thursday morning after employees discovered someone had broken into the business sometime during the night. Entry was apparently made through a rear window where police found a footprint. Taken was money and cigarettes.
At about the same time the burglary was being investigated, police were dispatched next door to Comfort Inn where employees said they were having trouble getting a pair of guests out of their room after checkout time.
When police arrived at their hotel door, they found the slumbering pair still in the room. Police also quickly found some of the items taken in the burglary next door, immediately linking them to the crime.
Both men were then placed into custody for the Grasshopper burglary and a search was made of the hotel room. During the search, lawmen discovered components to a methamphetamine lab inside Horn’s bags, leading to drug charges being leveled. They also found a piece of a change machine which linked the men to an earlier burglary of the Plaza Laundromat in which several hundreds of dollars in cash and change was stolen from the laundry’s machines. The victim in the laundry caper was McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport, who owns several coin operated machines in the area.
Further analysis revealed shoeprints found at both the Grasshopper and the Laundromat matched shoes worn by the suspect. In addition, police found a shirt in their possessions which matched the shirt worn by one of the suspects which was captured on film by the laundry’s surveillance camera. Charges are pending in the laundry burglary.
According to Denton, had the suspects simply checked out of the hotel on time, they would have likely gotten away for their crime, at least for now.
“The fact they caused trouble by not getting out of their room when they were supposed to is what got them caught,” Denton said. “Plus, they were staying within just a few yards of the place they broke into hours before.”