Woman stole to pay for prior stealing charge, police say

Police and court records reported these charges in Maplewood: a man stealing a wallet containing credit cards at Applebee’s and a Walmart employee stealing from her cash register.

Matthew Misselhorn, 37, of Arnold, MO, was charged with stealing, at the Maplewood Applebee’s on July 8. The victim, an employee of Applebee’s, said that her wallet, containing at least two credit cards, was stolen from her purse as she prepared to leave the restaurant at the end of her shift. She had placed her purse on a table near the bar before leaving. Video from the restaurant showed her wallet being removed from her purse by a man; he could be seen hiding the walled in his waistband and briefly sitting down at the bar before leaving. He was arrested two days later by Brentwood police in possession of the victim’s stolen credit cards as well as other item that had been in her wallet. The victim identified Misselhorn from a photo lineup. He was interviewed by Maplewood police and denied stealing the victim’s property; he claimed that he had found the credit cards and the other items in a grassy area between the Home Depot store in Brentwood and a nearby parking garage.

Rukiya Nicole Preyor, 22, of St. Louis, as an employee at the Maplewood Walmart, was seen on store video stealing a total of $900 in cash from her register during three shifts in July 2016. She was arrested and confessed to the theft, explaining that she was already on probation for stealing and had been stealing the money to pay for restitution for that case.