A New Bloomfield man has been sentenced to four years in prison for breaking into a Cole County business in January.
Colten Gliser, 21, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary and stealing during a hearing before Cole County Senior Judge Richard Callahan. Gliser also must pay $1,729 in restitution.
The burglary was reported at Stacey’s Market on West Business 50 in the St. Martins area, according to Cole County Sheriff’s Department probable cause statements. Around $800 was taken from the store cash registers and a secured file cabinet.
A store security video showed two men wearing red bandanas to cover their faces entering the store with a key. One man went to the alarm key pad and entered a code to disable the alarm. The other man went to the back and started grabbing cartons of cigarettes while the other man went to the two cash registers and entered codes to empty the tills. After taking the cash, he went to the file cabinet, removed cash and coins, and placed them in a backpack.
Employees of the store were confident one of the men was Gliser, who recently had been fired from the business. They said they had seen Gliser wear a red bandana often and he still had keys to the store and knew security codes.
Cole County authorities informed Holts Summit police they were looking for Gliser for this break-in and for another break-in at Stacey’s while he was working there. Holts Summit officers found and detained Gliser at a gas station on U.S. 54.
Gliser told authorities he had been at his apartment and had not committed a burglary. He allowed investigators to search his vehicle and a backpack, in which two red bandanas were found. Gilser then admitted to committing the burglary and taking the money.