A transient Owensville man with prior ties to the Gerald and St. Clair communities faces charges in a Nov. 4 break-in of a local couple’s home along Highway 28.

Owensville police located Roy E. Jennings, Jr., 42, on the south side of town late Friday morning and arrested him on two misdemeanor warrants including one from St. Clair alleging indecent exposure and another from Jefferson City alleging stealing. Jefferson City police took custody of Jennings Friday afternoon but he was walking the streets of Owensville again by Tuesday afternoon.

The St. Clair warrant carried a $500 cash-only bond but police there would not pick him up, according to police here. The Jefferson City charges carried a $500 cash or surety bond.

Jennings under police questioning admitted to entering a residence in the 200 block of East Lincoln Avenue on the evening of Nov. 4. The homeowner told police he and his wife had smelled what they believed to be propane gas throughout their residence.

It turned out that Jennings, who apparently had spent at least a prior night in the cellar, spilled gasoline stored down there.

“A male subject had gained entry into the basement cellar,” according to a report from City Marshal Robert Rickerd. “The occupants of the residence discovered this individual at their premises and immediately contacted authorities while the male subject fled the scene. The male subject was unable to be located by OPD after an extensive search that evening. Through an investigation by (patrolmen) David Mabe and Brenn Finley, a positive identification of who the subject that entered the residence was confirmed. Officer Mabe placed a stop and hold on the identified subject that evening.”

Rickerd along with Det. Rob Green, who had arrested Jennings earlier this year during a peace disturbance incident on First Street, took Jennings into custody the following morning.

“While at OPD, Jennings admitted to being in the cellar the previous evening at the 200 block of East Lincoln,” according to Rickerd’s report of the arrest.

Rickerd said Mabe is “wrapping up the investigation and case” and a probable cause statement will be forwarded to the Gasconade County Prosecutor’s Office as an application for formal charged.

Jennings had been in Osage County Associate Circuit Judge Sonya Day Brandt’s Oct. 13 municipal court session in Linn for hearing Owensville police cases where he pleaded guilty to three cases from March 17, April 1, and Aug. 14, of 2021.

He was fined $150.50 plus court costs of $34.50 on the stealing charge from March. Brandt fined him the same amount each for a resisting arrest charge from April and the obstructing police charge from August. All three were municipal ordinance violations, according to court records.

Jennings was reportedly living above a downtown business office on First Street during the April 1 incident where police used a taser weapon to forcibly remove him from underneath a parked vehicle. Jennings had been custody of the Maries County Sheriff’s Office in Vienna the day prior to his hearing before Brandt last month.

A city citation charging him with resisting arrest had been filed May 20 and Jennings missed a June 9 court appearance. A failure to appear warrant was issued by Brandt with a cash-only bond set at $186.

Case records show Jennings was in Osage County custody in August when Brandt ordered him released on his own recognizance while ordering him appear in her court on Sept. 15.

He failed to appear again and another warrant carrying a $185 cash-only bond was issued. He was in custody as of Oct. 12 in Osage County and the following day pleaded guilty to the three Owensville police cases filed against him.

He was ordered to pay $7.90 in restitution in the stealing case.