Dateline: July 15, 2004

Arrest of man clears several burglaries

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A Clarendon man was arrested last week following an investigation of a rash of residential burglaries.

Shane Klinnert, age 36, remained in the Donley County Jail Monday, facing charges of burglary of a habitation and violating probation.

Sheriff Butch Blackburn said Klinnert was arrested last Thursday and arraigned the following day by County Judge Jack Hall. Bond was set at the $25,000 for the burglary charge, but no bond was set for the probation violation.

Blackburn said the arrest cleared ten cases, four of which had happened the day of the arrest. One case dated back two months, and the remainder had occurred in the last two weeks.

The crimes occurred across the county in residences from Ashtola on the west, inside the city of Clarendon, and to Lelia Lake on the east.

Prescription medications were the primary items stolen during the burglaries, Sheriff Blackburn said, but some meat, a fan, and a television were also taken.

Klinnert also reportedly stole a radio from a volunteer firefighter’s home and used it to keep track of local law enforcement personnel.

All the missing property in the cases, other than the pills, have been recovered, the sheriff said.

Blackburn credited the arrest to two observant citizens who noticed the suspect’s vehicle at the locations of two of the burglaries.

“Without the help of two citizens, we would not have been able to clear these cases as quickly as we did,” the sheriff said.

Klinnert was on probation for a DWI charge, Blackburn said.