On Thursday, July 13, 2017, JAKE M. COMBS, d/o/b 7-18-1995, of Kissee Mills, Missouri, was sentenced on the class C felony of burglary in the second degree and the class C felony of unlawful possession of a firearm, for his role in the break-in of the Cedarcreek Fire Station on December 21, 2016. Associate Circuit Court Judge Eric Eighmy sentenced Combs to seven (7) years in prison on the burglary and three (3) years on the unlawful possession of a firearm. Judge Eric Eighmy denied probation and ordered the sentences are to run consecutive to each other resulting in a total sentence of (10) years. Combs was also ordered as a condition of his incarceration to pay restitution of over $18,000.00.

In the early morning hours of December 21, 2016, Combs and another male drove to the Cedarcreek Fire Station on M Highway, where they forced entry into the building. The men stole several items from inside the fire station before driving one of the fire trucks through the fire engine bay’s retractable door. When the men crashed the truck through the door, the station’s walls were damaged and the door was destroyed. Later that morning, the fire truck was found abandoned and ablaze in a creek bed. Some stolen items from the fire station were recovered in a car the two males had borrowed from a friend. Surveillance cameras recorded the men committing the break-in.

In April of this year, ROBERT E. GRANT, d/o/b 8-25-1979, of Cedarcreek, received a thirteen (13) year sentence as a prior and persistent felony offender from Taney County Circuit Judge Tony Williams for his role in the burglary of the Cedarcreek Fire Station.