BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
INDEPENDENCE - A report of a suspicious vehicle led police to three arrests for a burglary they hadn't known about.
The call from a longtime Morningview resident sent Kenton County police officers Wednesday afternoon to the area around Kenton Station and Conley roads. They spotted the truck, which turned out to have stolen electronic equipment in the back, said Detective Christopher Haddle.
Some of what officers suspected was stolen had a Conley Road address on it. Investigators went there and found the house had been burglarized.
"They made our jobs fairly easy," the detective said.
Police arrested Donald Morgan, 22, whose last known address was the Pike County Jail, and Billy J. Hutton, 19, and Clifford T. Webster, both of Covington. All were charged with burglary. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Webster also were charged with carrying a concealed weapon, and Mr. Morgan was arrested on an outstanding warrant for escaping from the jail last month.
Investigators think the men probably intended to burglarize the house of the man who reported them, too, Detective Haddle said, but that they were deterred when he answered the door.
Burglary is punishable by 10 to 20 years in prison.
The arrests were the first for Detective Haddle since his promotion to investigations a week ago.
'They made our jobs fairly easy.' - Christopher Haddle, detective
