DuJardin pleads guilty to burglary of church

<p class="p1">A Houston man is now behind bars after pleading guilty to burglary in connection with an April 2016 break-in at the Sweeton Pond Church and cemetery near Dora. During the incident, David Anthony DuJardin and his codefendant in the case, Jami Vance of Hartshom, allegedly took several items, including the cemetery gate. DuJardin pleaded guilty to burglary before Circuit Judge Craig Carter during the July 5 session of Ozark County Law Day and was sentenced to five years in prison to run concurrently with a prison sentence he is currently serving for a Texas County case. Pursuant to the plea agreement DuJardin made with the state, a second charge of theft was dismissed. </p><p class="p3">Vance is currently incarcerated and did not appear for her hearing, which was scheduled at the same time. A writ of habeas corpus ad prosequendum ordering Vance to be transported to Ozark County to face her charges here was filed this week and was forwarded to the Fulton branch of the Missouri Department of Corrections. She is ordered to appear on Aug. 9. </p><p class="p3">According to the probable cause statement in the case, officers were dispatched to the Sweeton Pond Church April 23, 2016. Church caretaker Richard Martin reportedly told the officers someone had broken in and taken several items. The caretaker said the break-in must have occurred between Sunday, April 17, and Saturday, April 23.</p><p class="p3">Deputy Curtis Dobbs wrote in his report that entry was made through a back window of the church. The window was open, and a glass pane was broken out above an air conditioning unit, he wrote. The front door, unlocked, was believed to be the exit point. Martin identified several items that were missing, including a CD player, electronic sound mixture, a rechargeable Ryobi “sawmill,” hanging wall tapestry, dehumidifier and an aluminum cattle gate from the nearby cemetery.</p><p class="p3">On July 7, 2016, Texas County deputies contacted the Ozark County Sheriff’s Office after an officer there found a sound mixer recovered from the DuJardin and Vance residence in Hartsthorn. The machinery was similar to the equipment reportedly taken from the Sweeton Pond Church. According to documents in the Texas County case, other items included a 100-pound propane tank, a windmill tower, a cast iron stove, lawn chairs, a fire pit, gas from a 9N tractor and 10 fruit trees.</p><p class="p3">On July 8, Deputy Dobbs interviewed the pair, who reportedly admitted their involvement with the burglary.</p><p class="p3">According to the statement, Vance told officers she dropped off DuJardin at the Sweeton Pond Cemetery so he could steal the cemetery gate out front while she pulled the car around to the church parking lot to wait for him to finish. While trying to remove the gate, DuJardin realized he did not have the correct tools to remove the gate, so he broke out a window and entered the church to look for tools. While inside, he said he decided to take several other items. DuJardin allegedly loaded the iems into the vehicle, and the pair loaded the cemetery gate on top of it and left.</p><p class="p3">While attempting to leave, though, their vehicle had a flat tire just north of the church. Vance and DuJardin told officers they hid the items stolen from the church in a ditch and put the gate in a wooded area near where they abandoned their vehicle. Officers responded April 21 to the report of an abandoned vehicle on Highway 181 just north of the Sweeton Pond Cemetery, the statement says, and officers later determined the vehicle belonged to Vance and DuJardin; however the burglary hadn’t been reported at that time, so the vehicle wasn’t deemed suspicious. The pair said they returned to the scene a few days afterward and retrieved the items.</p><p class="p3">Church personnel identified the recovered items as the things stolen from Sweeton Pond.</p>

David DuJardin