A 31-year-old Centralia man allegedly found squatting in an unoccupied east side home in Centralia has been charged in Marion County Court with burglary and felony theft.
Stephen Bryant of North Cherry Street had bond set at $15,000 and the public defender was appointed to represent him.
The theft charge claims Bryant stole a box of art supplies and a laptop computer valued at between $500 and $10,000.
Centralia Police Chief Greg Dodson believes the house full of items was mostly taken from storage units. He reported seven to nine different victims have been identified so far. Dodson says documents were found in some of the items that provided the name of the owner while others had property identified after calling police detectives. He notes in some cases the owners had not yet discovered that their storage unit had been entered.
Marion County Sheriff’s Detectives have also determined that some of the items in the home had been taken from another unoccupied home owned by the same business on Gragg Street Road in rural Centralia. Detectives believe there have been at least two burglaries at that home.
