Taney County Prosecuting Attorney, Jeffrey M. Merrell, announced today that MICHAEL POIVEY, DOB: 1/20/1957, of Branson, was sentenced Thursday, May 16, 2013, by Circuit Judge Mark Orr twenty (20) years in prison for multiple burglary and stealing felonies, related to the dismantling of the Grand Palace Theater from 2009 through 2010.

Poivey had previously entered a guilty plea in December of 2010 to three (3) felony counts of burglary in the second degree, and three (3) felony counts of the class B felony of stealing, but failed to appear for sentencing in 2011. Once apprehended, Poivey was extradited from Arkansas to Taney County to face sentencing.

“The investigation conducted by the Branson Police Department pointed to Poivey as the leader of a group of thieves who illegally entered the Grand Palace Theater and essentially stripped it,” says Taney County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Merrell. “Over $900,000.00 worth of materials were stolen from within the Grand Palace, leaving it unusable.” Detectives were able to track some of the stolen production equipment from the Grand Palace to people in other states, who had purchased the equipment from Poivey and his sons.

Poivey was charged by the Taney County Prosecutor’s Office as a prior and persistent felony offender, for having at least two (2) prior felony convictions. Poivey was sentenced to fifteen (15) years on each of the three (3) burglary counts, and to twenty (20) years on each of the three (3) stealing counts. Those sentences were ordered to run concurrently with one another.