Capt. Craig Kohlbeck of the Brown County Sheriff’s Department said the husband had put the ammunition and three handguns in the oven before the couple left on a vacation.

He told officers he thought the items would be safe there in case someone broke into the home while they were away.

They had apparently forgotten about the bullets by the time they returned from their trip Tuesday - the wife turned on the oven to prepare dinner and the bullets ignited, Kohlbeck said.

Suspect’s failure to cover his tracks leads to breaks in several cases

It looks like Robert Dale Howey has really stepped in it this time.

A boot track left in a cowpie at the scene of a theft of some irrigation equipment matched a boot track he left at another crime scene last week — where he was arrested on charges of theft.

By the time the investigation was finished, Howey also faced accusations he tried to scavenge parts off the bridge over the Willamette River in Harrisburg.

The case came to police attention early Thursday morning, when Benton County Sheriff’s Cpl. Jeff Wilcox drove by a pickup truck parked along Highway 99W about five miles south of Corvallis.

Two things struck Wilcox as odd. First, the pickup had twelve 50-foot sections of five-inch irrigation pipe stacked on top — sticking out a good 15 feet on both ends of the truck.

And secondly, it was 3 a.m. — not most farmers’ favorite time to do irrigation-equipment maintenance.

“So Corporal Wilcox gets out and talks to him, and during the conversation he sees this fence that has been cut on the field,” said Lt. Andy Olson. “The guy fessed up that he had cut the fence and gone in and stolen the pipe.”

Stolen it, Olson said, so he could cut it up and sell it to a buyer of scrap metal. According to a receipt from a metals buyer in Salem, irrigation aluminum fetches 50 cents a pound. The receipt shows Howey got $164 for a load of scrap he sold to the yard, including $151 for irrigation aluminum police believe was stolen.

Howey was arrested and jailed for the night, and the following morning he was released pending trial. But at the morning briefing meeting that day, the story sounded pretty familiar to a couple other deputies.

“One of our deputies, Rick Fontaine, was listening to this incident, and it so happens that back on Feb. 9, Rick had investigated a report off Highway 223 near Maxville Creek Road … of irrigation pipe taken there, 13 sections 30 feet long,” said Olson. “The value was about $1,500.”

Deputy Randy Hiner, too, thought this sounded familiar.

“(Hiner) investigated an incident that involved 10 sections of pipe, on Dec. 18 of last year,” Olson said. “The value of that was in the neighborhood of $1,600.”

So Fontaine and another deputy drove up to Dallas to talk to Howey, hoping to clear up the other cases.

Howey initially denied any involvement. But Fontaine hadn’t come without an ace in his hand. A boot track left in a cowpie at the earlier theft exactly matched the tracks of the boots Howey had been wearing when he was arrested, Olson said.

After that was pointed out, Howey changed his story and admitted he’d stolen the pipe.

“He also fessed up to the case Hiner did, and cleared up a couple burglaries in the process,” said Olson.

Howey also astonished the deputies by confessing to removing about 50 one-inch bolts from the Harrisburg bridge over the Willamette River.

“He was trying to remove them to get to these rails and remove them, too,” said Olson. “It wasn’t something that would have ruined the structure, and he wasn’t able to get to the rails. (The Oregon Department of Transportation) has been notified, and they’ve been back and replaced all the bolts.”

In the end, Howey was charged with two counts of burglary, six of theft, three of criminal mischief and five of trespassing — in cases covering three different counties.

Olson said he’s proud of the work of the deputies to pull all the cases together.

“These guys were out there working at three in the morning while everybody else was sleeping, to keep everybody safe,” he said. “They’re doing the job they’re paid to do.”

Story courtesy Finn J. John and the Corvallis Gazette-Times

A trail of ATM parts quickly led police to the stolen cash machine in a Dayton, Ohio apartment Tuesday.

Police were called to the Kwik N Kold, 1201 Troy St., about 12:45 a.m., on the report of a burglar alarm.

Two officers arrived and found a side door broken, according to a police report.

A woman told them she had seen two men in dark clothing using a rope to drag an automated teller machine from the business. She said the two went through an alley toward some apartments.

The officers followed the trail of parts — a sign that said “ATM,” a back light for the sign and a phone cord leading to an apartment at 1111 Troy.

After obtaining a search warrant, officers entered the apartment, where they found the ATM next to the front door.

Police later arrested a 22-year-old man in connection with the stolen machine. No charges had been filed against him Tuesday.

Story courtesy Lou Grieco and the Dayton Daily News

Attala Abboushi couldn’t believe his eyes when he opened his store and saw legs dangling from the kitchen ceiling.

“I thought I was dreaming for a second,” Abboushi said.

Police say a would-be burglar got stuck trying to bypass the small grocery’s alarm system by breaking in through the vents over a kitchen stove.

After discovering the man shouting for help Sunday, Abboushi called police and firefighters, who cut the vent apart to free the man. The suspect told police he was stuck for four or five hours.

He was taken to St. Vincent Charity Hospital to be treated for cuts and bruises. He was later taken to the city jail.

The man was expected to be charged with breaking and entering, Sgt. Donna Bell said Tuesday. Police suspect he may have entered through roofs on several burglaries.

A man and his wife took cover behind a refrigerator when bullets began exploding in their oven, authorities say.

A helpful tip for would-be thieves: Remember to be as inconspicuous as possible.

Police say Undra Williams, 24, of Little Rock, was wearing a bright-orange Hawaiian shirt when he failed in an attempt to rob a convenience store Wednesday and then successfully held up a bank 20 minutes later.

Security camera video of the incidents was shown on local television later in the week and Williams was arrested Sunday after the images showed off the robber’s taste in loud clothes, police said.

“Once we saw the video, we though it would be fairly easy to catch him,” Little Rock police Sgt. Terry Hastings said Monday. “We prefer that criminals wear bright-colored clothes.”

Williams was charged with two counts of aggravated robbery and one count of theft. He was being held in the Pulaski County jail.

Police in Germany who arrested a ‘deaf’ suspect in a drugs raid found he had hidden wraps of heroin in his ears.

The 33-year-old man was arrested in Kassel after an anonymous tip-off that he was selling drugs.

A police spokesman said: “He seemed nervous when he was being questioned so the officers decided to bring him in for questioning.

“But by the time they reached the police station, he had become deaf.”

A police doctor examined him and found wraps of heroin were obstructing his hearing. The man will be charged with drug offenses.

Officers in Elko, Nevada say a burglar relieved himself from the roof of a restaurant that had been ripped off.

Investigators say the yellow snow yielded enough DNA to link Roger Gray to the scene. Police say he’s admitted to a jewelry store burglary. Investigators are now looking at his possible involvement in burglaries at a pizza place and a JC Penney store. He’s being held on $5,000 bail.