Boone County Man Charged with Gun Theft

A Boone County man has been arrested after breaking into a neighbors home and stealing firearms.

According to the probable cause affidavit, law enforcement responded to a report of a home break in and theft of two firearms. The victims state when they returned home after being out of town for a few days, they discovered their front door partly ajar and someone had entered their home. They also discovered that two firearms were missing from the residence, a 7.62 caliber SKS rifle and a .380 caliber Berretta semiautomatic handgun.

The victims told law enforcement they suspected a neighbor, identified as 27-year-old Alexander Cory Tilley, was at their home prior to them leaving for their trip, had entered into their home. They state that Tilley knew when they were leaving and had asked multiple times to purchase the firearms that were reported missing.

Authorities made contact with Tilley and asked him to come to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office for questioning. He agreed to come in and during questioning, he admitted to force opening the front door of the victims’ home and took the SKS rifle from the closet and left. Tilley stated he took the rifle to a remote part of Boone County off of Mill Hollow Road and threw the rifle into some brush along the roadside, but denied taking the Berretta handgun.

Tilley told officers he was afflicted with a number of mental health/instabilities and credited his actions to them. He said after he committed the act, he realized what he did was wrong and decided to hide the rifle until he could return it to the victims. Tilley led the officers to the location of the rifle where it was recovered.

A second interview was conducted with Tilley in regards to the whereabouts of the handgun, which he previously denied having knowledge of. He told officers he had given the handgun to his sister, to which she was unaware of it being stolen when he gave it to her.

Officers made contact with Tilley’s sister outside of her residence to ask about the handgun. She stated it was in her car and retrieved it upon request. She stated Tilley asked her via text if she wanted to purchase a handgun from him and agreed to purchase it from him for $100.

Tilley was released from the Boone County Detention Center on $15,000 bond. He is charged with a felony count of residential burglary and two felony counts of theft of property.

(From KTLO)