One arrested after pursuit and home invasion in Clinton

A spree of thefts from vehicles at numerous locations in Clinton sparked a search for the suspects that culminated in a foot chase and home invasion this morning at approximately 9:48 A.M. It was reported to Clinton Police that one of the suspects, 41 year old James Corey Schmutz of Osceola, was spotted in a trailer park in the 600 block of North Washington Street. It was there that he was approached by one of his victims and he opened his jacked to show that he had a handgun tucked into his waistband. Officers responded to the area but did not locate Schmutz. 

A short time later Schmutz was located in the 500 block of Meadowlark. He fled on foot from officers and they were unable to locate him. Central Dispatch then received a call from a lady who said that a man had barged into her home and was refusing to leave. 

She said that neither she nor her husband knew the man and he was still there. Officers from the Clinton Police Department, the Henry County Sheriff’s Department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol responded to the lady’s home in the 500 block of Meadowlark. 

Both the lady and her husband, an elderly couple, were asked to step outside and when they did, they told officers the man was in their garage. Officers entered the home and found Schmutz in the garage. He was taken into custody without incident but did not have a handgun on his person, however, a handgun was later recovered in the back yard of the home when it was found by a neighbor who was walking in the area. 

Schmutz was arrested for an active felony probation violation warrant and 24 hour investigation of the following: 1st degree burglary of the home, stealing, felon in possession of a firearm, fraudulent use of a credit device, and felony resisting arrest. 

Schmutz was transported to the Henry County Jail but was later hospitalized after he informed officers that he had taken a large quantity of narcotic pills.