A warrant was issued Nov. 20 for the arrest of an Iowa teen charged with stealing a motor scooter from a Town of La Grange resident.
Trevor Barnes, 17, of Des Moines, Iowa, was charged Nov. 19 in Walworth County Circuit Court with burglary of a building or dwelling, operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent, criminal damage to property and misdemeanor theft.
According to the criminal complaint, a Town of La Grange resident reported Sept. 1 that when he returned home from Chicago on Aug. 23, the key to his front door didn’t work. After he was able to get into his home, he saw the deadbolt was duct taped, so it wouldn’t work, the kitchen blinds were covered with paper towel and taped and the skeleton key to the living room door was broken, according to the complaint.
He later found the lock on his basement door was broken but didn’t report it to police at the time because nothing appeared to be missing, the complaint states.
On Sept. 1, when he returned home, he noticed his motor scooter was missing, the lock to where he keeps the scooter was cut and Mike’s Hard Lemonade in his refrigerator had been consumed, according to the complaint.
On Sept. 9, the stolen scooter was found with heavy damage leaning against a tree at a Green Lake Drive home in the Town of La Grange. The owner of the home said his son, Trevor Barnes, had stolen the scooter and crashed it when he was trying to avoid going to an interview at the East Troy Police Department, according to the complaint.
A neighbor of the victim said his golf cart was taken around the same time his neighbor’s scooter was taken but was returned shortly after, according to the complaint. The neighbor said he suspected Barnes took the golf cart and said the suspect took Mike’s Hard Lemonade during the burglary, the complaint states.
Another neighbor also said he suspected Barnes was the burglar because he has had ongoing issues of theft with Barnes. This worry can now hopefully be mitigated as Barnes is now charged, however, residents may still be on the lookout just in case it happens again. If that is the case then homeowners may want to look into alarm systems home products to see how they can be installed outside their homes to catch any more burglary attempts.
This neighbor also said in 2018, Barnes stole the family’s moped out of the barn and damaged it but admitted doing so and returned the moped, according to the complaint. He said he also suspected Barnes of stealing a ring from his home about two years ago, the complaint states.
