A Traskwood woman was arrested Monday night after she was reportedly caught in the act of burglarizing a deceased person's home and was found driving a stolen vehicle.
Shapri Lynn Robins, 51, was taken into custody shortly before 10 p.m. and charged with felony counts of residential burglary, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, and theft by receiving over $5,000, punishable by up to 10 years.
Robins remained in custody Tuesday in lieu of bonds totaling $8,500, with a hold out of Saline County, and is set to appear today in Garland County District Court.
According to the probable cause affidavit, shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, Garland County sheriff's Sgt. Josh Cannon and Deputies John Blunkall and Shane Tatum were dispatched to a residence in the 800 block of Mount Carmel Road regarding a possible burglary in progress.
A neighbor had called 911 after driving by the residence and seeing an unknown white female entering the house. The neighbor noted the owner of the house had died recently.
Upon arriving at the house, Cannon checked the license plate of a green Toyota SUV parked at the house and determined the plate returned to a different vehicle. He checked the vehicle identification number of the SUV and discovered it had been reported stolen through the Benton Police Department.
Cannon and Tatum knocked on the door and a woman answered, identified herself and stated the house belonged to her uncle who had died and she was just there sorting through his belongings and taking some of them.
A check of the name the woman gave determined it was false and she was eventually identified as Robins, who had a warrant out of Saline County for failure to appear on drug charges, so she was taken into custody.
When asked, Robins reportedly confirmed she was driving the vehicle in the driveway and claimed she had borrowed it from a family friend in the Traskwood area. When asked how she got in the house, she reportedly said she had the keys, but now she couldn't find them.
Deputies discovered the back door had been kicked in and noted damage to the door handle. Sheriff's Investigator Matthew Ellis arrived to process evidence and discovered several stacks of items inside the house that appeared "to have been rummaged through."
Local on 04/22/2020