ROHNERT PARK – A young man from Montana was caught with stolen property while passed out at an Arby’s Roast Beef restaurant.
The incident began late on Valentine’s Day last week when Michael Lee McClure, a 20-year-old man from Kalispell, Montana, broke into a woman’s home in Santa Rosa, near the Sonoma County Fairgrounds. He must have been very quiet as he went about his business of gathering up her computers, i-Pads, cameras, jewelry, credit cards, and even an entertainment system. According to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s department, the elderly woman woke Sunday morning to discover she had been burglarized overnight. She called the Sheriff’s department to report the theft.
The responding deputies took the woman’s report, and soon found that most of the stolen property was still at her house, but hidden outside. Sheriff’s detectives decided to set up an overnight stakeout to see if they could catch the burglar coming back to get his loot. Perhaps he was wise to them, or more likely just forgot. When morning came and he had not returned, detectives tried a different tactic. On Monday morning, February 16, they used the tracking capabilities of one of the stolen and still missing i-Pads, which led them to Rohnert Park, about six miles south.
They found McClure at the Arby’s on Redwood Drive. He had been inside and passed out for about two hours. He was wearing a scarf that had been taken from the victim’s home, along with one of her watches. He had a backpack stolen from the home, and it had the missing i-Pad and some other property that had been taken. He also had some methamphetamine, which he had apparently used. They arrested him for possession and being under the influence of meth, along with burglary, trespassing, and possession of stolen property.
As a “Hot Prowl” burglar – or one who enters an occupied home, and due to the fact that he lives out of state, he was considered a flight risk, and bail was set at $300,000.00. His arrest report listed him as a “Manager”, though what he was hired to manage was not evident in the report. Kalispell, Montana is the county seat of Flathead County in north west Montana.
