By Mike Donoghue

A Derby man is facing federal charges after he was linked to at least one of the ten firearms reported stolen during a brazen break-in at a gun store in Derby last week, federal court records show.

Tucker E. Jacobs, 27, is named in a criminal complaint filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives based on guns stolen from Wright’s Sports Supply on the night of April 15.

He is charged with knowingly possessing a stolen Heckler & Koch 9-mm semiautomatic pistol when he was confronted in Newport on April 17, the ATF said.

Newport Police arrested him on a series of state criminal charges, including possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, violation of conditions of release and larceny from a person, prison records show.

Vermont State Police, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department and Newport Police were alerted about a break-in at the gun store on Community Drive in Derby about 11:44 p.m. April 15.

By the time police officers arrived at 11:50 p.m., they found the glass had been broken out of the front door and a case holding handguns, but nobody in the store, the ATF said.

The quick speed of the break-in has investigators believing the store had been surveilled ahead of time. An inventory by the store owner showed ten handguns were stolen in under 3 minutes, according to ATF Task Force member James F. Loomis.

The security video showed one burglar wearing Muck-style boots, a large, oversized zip-up hooded jacket and sweatpants. Trooper Richard Berlandy reported a mask covering much of the face of the burglar, who was carrying a large shopping bag and a pry bar.

The burglar had walked to the front of the store at 11:42 p.m., sat down, turned on his cellphone light and tried to pry the door open initially, the ATF said.

When unsuccessful, court records show that the burglar used the pry bar to smash the glass door. He fled the store by 11:45 p.m., the ATF said.

The next morning Loomis, ATF Special Agent Tam Vieth of Burlington and State Police Detective Sgt. David Robillard consulted and also reviewed the break-in video to seek possible leads.

The following evening, the Orleans County Sheriff’s Department and Newport and state police responded to a complaint about a vehicle that did not have permission to park in a driveway in Newport.

As Newport Officer Jonathan Morin approached the Vermont-registered red Toyota RAV4, a passenger, later identified as Jacobs, fled the car, the ATF said. They said he went into an apartment near 117 Third Street, occupied by Hailey Tullis.

Morin also spoke to the driver, Erika Lewis, records show.

Investigators were aware that Jacobs was freed in an earlier court case on conditions of release that required him to observe a 24-hour curfew at a Goodall Road residence in Holland, except for noon to 2 p.m. for errands, records show. He is also prohibited from buying, possessing or using firearms or other dangerous weapons.

When Morin knocked on the apartment door, two people came out and said Jacobs had fled, court records note. Officer Nicholas Keithan and other police soon found Jacobs nearby, but he tried to flee. After a short foot pursuit to Central Street Jacobs resisted arrest and refused to put his hands behind his back, officials said.

Jacobs was eventually handcuffed and searched. A cellphone, a military identification card, drug paraphernalia, including two crack pipes and the stolen 9-mm pistol were seized, Loomis said in a court affidavit.

A check showed the handgun was among those reported stolen from Derby two days earlier. Newport Police alerted Vieth and Loomis about the recovery. Loomis went to the Newport Police Department where he was joined by a veteran city detective assigned to the Vermont Drug Task Force to interview Jacobs.

Jacobs admitted he ran from police because he was supposed to be home under the court-ordered curfew, the ATF said.

Jacobs admitted that while at the Tullis apartment that he saw an unattended backpack that he knew had five firearms and that they had store tags on them, Loomis said.

The suspect said he did not know where the guns were stolen from, but he assumed it was Wright’s Sports Shop because of the recent break-in.

A cellphone photograph recovered from the scene showed 7 or 8 firearms in a wooden crate, records note. The photograph had been taken at 12:37 a.m. April 16, less than one hour after the break-in, court records show.

Jacobs also admitted possessing a small amount of crack cocaine, court records show.

First published in the Caledonian-Record