Smithville man is accused of burglarizing homes while owners attended funerals

Clay County prosecutors have accused a Smithville man of three burglaries, including two that happened while residents were attending funeral services.

Dale Lee Parsons, 35, is charged with three counts of second-degree burglary, two counts of stealing a firearm and one count each of stealing, attempted second-degree burglary and unlawful firearm possession.

According to court documents, detectives with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Parsons after a deputy in late November pulled him over in a truck that matched one shown in a surveillance photo taken several days earlier at a burglarized home.

Detectives found a backpack behind the driver’s seat containing a pry bar, men’s work gloves and two handguns reported stolen in separate burglaries.

Detectives had been investigating a series of residential burglaries in rural Clay County. In one October burglary, a handgun and jewelry were taken from a home while the occupant attended his wife’s funeral visitation.

The second gun had been stolen in a November burglary from the home of a man attending a funeral.

Investigating a separate burglary, a detective found information that Parsons had sold jewelry to a Kansas City pawnshop on East Truman Road. The detective found two rings at the pawnshop that bore the initials of the victim. Video surveillance from the shop showed Parsons to be the person who sold the jewelry.

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 3:39 PM with the headline "Smithville man is accused of burglarizing homes while owners attended funerals."