Macon County prosecutor adds felony stealing charge against Kirksville man in La Plata storage unit case
MACON. Prosecutors have added a felony stealing charge against the Kirksville man accused of breaking into five storage units in La Plata last week, and have charged him as a prior and persistent offender that could lengthen any sentence he receives.
Roy R. Robinson, 58, Kirksville, now faces two felony counts in Macon County Circuit Court: stealing of property valued at $750 or more, a class D felony; and first-degree property damage, a class E felony. Both charges arise from the same April 17 incident at a storage facility at 1000 N. Brown St. in La Plata. Macon County Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Meisner filed the amended complaint April 24 in Case No. 26MA-CR00120.
The amended complaint alleges that Robinson took a Samsung dryer and a Samsung refrigerator from the storage units without the owner’s consent and with the purpose to deprive the owner of the property. The property damage count alleges that Robinson knowingly damaged the storage units by cutting the door slides, with damages exceeding $750.
Meisner is also pursuing prior and persistent offender enhancements on both counts under Sections 558.016 and 557.036, RSMo. According to the complaint, Robinson was convicted of felony stealing of $750 or more in Barry County on or about July 16, 2019, and pleaded guilty to first-degree burglary in Adair County on or about July 25, 2023.
A class D felony stealing conviction ordinarily carries up to seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections and a fine of up to $10,000. A class E felony property damage conviction ordinarily carries up to four years and a fine of up to $10,000. The prior and persistent offender designation, if proven, allows the court to sentence Robinson to an extended term of imprisonment beyond those ordinary ranges.
The probable cause statement filed by La Plata Police Officer Mark E. Henderson remains the basis for both counts. According to that statement, the storage facility owner contacted police April 19 to report that units 61 through 65 had been broken into by someone who cut the door slides. Surveillance video showed a white Chevrolet extended cab pickup arriving with an empty bed and leaving with several items loaded in back. La Plata Police Chief Bunch spotted a truck matching the description traveling southbound on Brown Street that evening. Henderson made contact with the driver, identified by his Missouri driver’s license as Robinson, who said he had owned the truck for about a week and that he had been with a friend the night of the break-in. Robinson consented to a search of the truck; no items were found inside.
Henderson learned during the stop that Robinson was on probation and wearing a GPS ankle monitor. Henderson contacted Robinson’s probation officer, who provided location data from the monitor for the night of April 17. That data, Henderson wrote, placed Robinson at the scene. Henderson also reported information from a source who told him Robinson had used a Samsung dryer and Samsung refrigerator as a down payment on the truck he was driving. A Samsung dryer and a Samsung refrigerator were among the items reported taken from the storage units.
The Macon County Sheriff’s Office served the warrant on Robinson on April 24, 2026, according to the warrant return filed in the case. A bond appearance hearing has been scheduled for 10 a.m. April 27 before Judge Kristen Dawn Burks in Macon.
The charges in a criminal complaint are allegations; every defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.