PARK HILLS – The St. Francois County Sheriff’s office is reporting the arrest of a man believed to have been involved in several catalytic converter thefts in recent weeks.
According to a news release between February 18 and February 20, the Park Hills area was targeted by a catalytic converter thief driving a UTV.
In the early morning hours on February 20, officers with the Park Hills Police Department and deputies with the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Office converged on areas frequented by the thief.
“The persistence of Law Enforcement paid off when they located the subject in the UTV and initiated a pursuit,” the news release stated.
The suspect traveled off road through a power line and traveled back onto Hovis Farm Rd. where a St. Francois County K-9 was waiting. After a short pursuit with the UTV, the suspect fled on foot. The K-9 Deputy gave commands for the suspect to stop, which were ignored.
The deputy then released his K-9 partner, TEO, who gave chase to the suspect. Upon approaching the suspect, the suspect attempted to assault TEO and resisted apprehension. TEO, however, would not be beat and apprehended the suspected.
It was soon discovered the suspect, Kevin Moore of Desloge, had a $100,000.00 warrant through St. Francois County for felony possession of a weapon and felony possession of a controlled substance.
Moore was transported to a local hospital for treatment of his injury and upon realease will be transferred to the St. Francois County Detention Center.
The sheriff’s office pointed out that a police K-9 is trained to apprehend a suspect. No police K-9 is trained to apprehend a suspect in certain areas of the body. When a suspect fights a police K-9, the K-9 will apprehend by any means necessary, even if that means a bite to the biscuit.
“K-9 TEO was given a treat and mouth wash,” the report concluded.