Man pleads guilty to sex toys theft
Authorities contend Daniel Ray broke into three stores.
Issue date : June 25, 2008
A Springfield man accused of breaking into three novelty stores to steal sex toys and other merchandise pleaded guilty to the crimes Tuesday, surprising prosecutors.
Daniel Edward Ray, 36, was charged in January with three counts of second-degree burglary. He will be sentenced in September.
Ray had been scheduled to appear in Greene County Circuit Court only for a pretrial conference, but elected to reverse an earlier not guilty plea.
He had struck no plea bargain with the prosecutor's office, said Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Matt Russell.
In January, Ray broke into three Springfield stores -- Victoria's Palace, Cosmic Fish and Adam & Eve -- making off with a host of sex toys.
All three stores captured the crimes on surveillance tapes, and police found blood and fingerprints at the crime scenes.
A tip from an ex-girlfriend led police to arrest Ray, who confessed to the crimes.
A probable cause statement read: "Suspect Ray claimed that at the time of the incident he was very high on meth, which he claimed causes him to do crazy things that involves sex toys and pornographic material ..."
Source : http://www.news-leader.com