Bliss sentenced to four years for home break-in, theft of guns, other items
During the Sept. 8 Ozark County Law Day, Gainesville resident James William Bliss, 24, was sentenced to four years in the Missouri Department of Corrections in connection with the June 9 burglary of Shane and Kris Ledbetter’s home on County Road 806, about a half mile west of the Ozark County Sheriff’s Department, and the theft of several items including guns.
Bliss pleaded guilty to burglary, stealing $750 or more and three counts of stealing a firearm.
Bliss’s co-defendant in the case, Kaylee Isaac, is facing a charge of burglary in connection with the incident. Her case is currently open, and she is scheduled to appear for a plea hearing or trial setting in the case at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22.
Guns, change, jewelry, underwear stolen
According to the probable cause statement prepared by Ozark County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Justin Brown, fellow Deputy Alan Daffron was dispatched to the Ledbetter home June 9 for a report of a burglary. The Ledbetters said the home had been broken into and several items had been stolen.
“During the investigation, a witness advised [Ledbetter] that James W. Bliss and Kaylee A. Isaac had entered his residence through a basement door, and they were not allowed at the residence,” Brown wrote in the report. “While in the residence, Isaac and Bliss took two revolvers and one rifle, along with a glass jar full of change, a pair of underwear and a pair of child’s sneakers, along with a backpack….”
The items are valued at a level (over $750) that makes the alleged crime a felony.
The guns included a Ruger .22-caliber revolver, a Cimarron .45-caliber revolver and a Harrington and Richards .22-caliber short barrel rifle. Jewelry was also reported missing, the documents say.
Items found
Bliss and Isaac were later located at a home at 161 Fawk Crik in Gainesville, listed as Bliss’ address on the complaint filed against him. The parties consented to a search of the residence, and the items reported stolen from the Ledbetter home were found, along with methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia that was lying within Isaac’s reach, the report says.
After they were Mirandized, Isaac and Bliss reportedly told the deputy that the meth and paraphernalia did belong to them and that they had broken into the Ledbetters’ home and taken the guns and other items.
Deputies also found a black, metal Honeywell-branded lock box that was located in a bag Isaac said belonged to her. A search warrant signed by Associate Circuit Judge Raymond Gross legally allowed the officers to look in the box, where they found several pieces of jewelry, multiple credit cards belonging to two people (not Isaac or Bliss), one credit card registered to Bliss, a W-2 from another woman and a bank statement of another man.