Four arrested in Aurora burglary case

Samurai swords, other valuables stolen, eventually recovered
 
Three Lawrence County men were arrested and charged with felonies after they allegedly broke into an Aurora residence on Tuesday, Aug. 31 and removed several items. Dillon McLoud and David Johnson, both of Aurora, and Wayne Sooter, of Stotts City face charges of burglary and stealing in connection to the robbery.

Homeowner finds house robbed
According to the probable cause statement in the case, the homeowner arrived at the residence on the night of the break-in and saw two men and a woman run to a black mid-2000s Chevrolet Monte Carlo and a gold-colored Nissan Altima and leave.
The homeowner looked inside his house and saw that several thousands of dollars worth of items, including four samurai swords, drums, guitars, electronic musical equipment, a weed eater and other items had been taken out of the house.

Items and suspects located
Aurora police officers located the vehicles and made contact with McLoud, who gave consent for police to search an apartment and the vehicles. Police located the weed eater in the Nissan and other items related to the burglary in the apartment. The homeowner was brought to the scene and, based on photos he was shown, positively identified the items as having been taken from his home; he also identified the vehicles as the ones he had seen at his house.
The homeowner also said his neighbors told him they had seen a red-and-blue pickup loading items at the homeowner’s residence in addition to the two cars. Shortly after, Johnson arrived on the scene driving a pickup matching that description.

Questioning leads to more information
McLoud and Johnson were questioned, during which time, according to the probable cause statement, they told police where to find three samurai swords in the apartment.
During the interview, it was also revealed that Sooter and Rebekah Hufft, 19, knew homeowner and allegedly set up the burglary. The police also discovered that the truck had been taken to a storage unit in Miller, where items had been unloaded and placed inside.
According to the probable cause statement, detectives located a storage unit on Highway 39 that had been rented to Sooter; they also found footage from a security camera showing Sooter and Johnson unloading items from the truck into the storage unit; the items appeared to be from the burglary. As of press time, a search warrant was being applied for to go into the storage unit.
Johnson and McLoud were booked into the Lawrence County Jail on Tuesday, Aug. 31, and released with LBS monitoring on Thursday, Sept. 2. Sooter was booked into the jail on Thursday, Sept. 2; as of press time, he remained in the jail.