Lang
11/25/20
Allegedly stealing over $15,000 in jewelry and cash from residences in Lone Tree and Wellman has led to a Missouri man’s arrest.
60-year-old Joseph Baker of Blue Springs, Missouri was booked into the Johnson County Jail just after 12:30 Tuesday afternoon. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office says eyewitnesses and cellphone records placed Baker at the scene of a September 2019 burglary on East Dougherty Drive in Lone Tree. Approximately $15,000 in jewelry and cash were stolen from a locked residence, as were pillowcases.
Later that month a similar burglary was reported on 8th Avenue in Wellman, where again jewelry and pillowcases were stolen. Witnesses reported seeing Baker’s vehicle at the scene of the Wellman burglary, and cellphone records placed him there at the time it was committed.
In each case, the victims were reported as elderly.
Baker is charged with 1st Degree Theft and 3rd Degree Burglary in the Lone Tree case. If convicted on both charges, he faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
Online records do not list any charges yet in the Wellman case. The same records show Baker was given a five-year prison sentence on burglary and theft charges in Washington County in 2016.