Carson City man admits breaking into church and stealing computers, music equipment
A 37-year-old Carson City man was arrested Saturday on multiple felony counts including suspicion of burglary, obtaining money under false pretense, possession of stolen property, possession of credit cards without consent of the owner and drug charges.
Thomas Paul Meader was taken into custody at 11:18 a.m. in the 600 block of Hot Springs Road.
According to the arrest report, Meader admitted he broke into Connected Naz (Nazarene Church) in the 1300 block of East 5th Street and stole multiple items from the church including guitars, a laptop computer, an I-Mac desktop computer, a wireless headset, microphone pack, a home theater woofer and sound bar, and then pawned some of those items, according to the arrest report. Other items were located in a shed.
During the course of the investigation, deputies learned the name of the suspect, Meader, who sold items at the pawn shop that were located by church staff. Meader was located near the 600 block of Hot Springs Road holding a large backpack.
He was arrested and was read his Miranda rights and agreed to speak. He said bought the guitar, sound bar and lap top from a friend and didn't know anything else about the property nor would he mention anything about the alleged friend. Then he stated "I stole it," according to the arrest report. The officer asked what he meant, and the man said he stole items from the Connected Naz church, the report states.
He was asked how he got into the church. He stated he spent the night in the church parking lot and noticed a ring of keys on the ground. He stated he tried all the keys and one of them was able to open a glass door. He stated he stole the following items: The i-Mac desktop computer, the Toshiba laptop computer, wireless headset, microphone pack, headset, home theater sound bar and two guitars. He stated the remaining items were in a nearby shed.
During a search of the man deputies located a methamphetamine pipe and methamphetamine. Also discovered were four credit cards with other people's names on them, an Apple i-Mac external CD drive, which also belonged to the church. Bail: $168,637.