Two arrested in attempted motel cash theft

Comfort Inn employees thwarted a theft Monday morning when they confronted a hotel guest who was attempting to steal money from a cash drawer.

“Initially, (the call) came out as a robbery” at 9:18 a.m., Poplar Bluff Police Lt. Josh Stewart said. “That’s more the staff (saying), ‘We just had someone try to rob us.’”

Stewart said people associate robbery with any theft as opposed to an “actual robbery” in which a weapon is involved.

Clark

“Basically, what we had was a guy staying there,” explained Stewart. “He was down in the lobby. He waited for the clerks to leave that area.”

The suspect, later identified as Derrick Leonard, 17, of Kennett, grabbed the money from a cash drawer, Stewart said.

“He already had the money out, but basically turned around from the counter, and (employees) saw him and confronted him,” Stewart said. “ … He gave the cash back.

“He went back to his room, and he and the other two in his room fled. They didn’t flee with anything from the theft.”

Leonard and a 14-year-old female, Stewart said, were “apprehended within just moments” near the ball fields on Three Rivers Boulevard.

The third person, identified as James Clark, 19, of Memphis, Tennessee, was located about 20 to 30 minutes later, Stewart said.

Clark, he said, actually was found in a dumpster beside the Missouri Department of Natural Resources building, just south of Orscheln’s.

Stewart said Clark allegedly was in possession of a handgun that had been reported stolen in Jacksonville, Illinois.

All three, Stewart said, were detained and brought to the police station

“It looks like (the juvenile) is going to be released,” Stewart said.

Clark was arrested on suspicion of possession of a stolen firearm, while Leonard was “arrested on the theft,” Stewart said.

Both Clark and Leonard were booked at the Butler County jail.