BUCKHANNON – Two Buckhannon residents were arrested after allegedly forcing their way into a residence using a debit card without the owner’s permission and removing jewelry.
Jeffrey Saltis, 27, and Tia Miller, 22, were each arrested for burglary and conspiracy to commit a felony, both felonies.
According to several criminal complaints in the Upshur County Magistrate Clerk’s Office filed by investigating officer Senior Trooper P.J. Robinette with the Buckhannon detachment of the West Virginia State Police, on Saturday June 6, at approximately 1:30 p.m., Saltis allegedly entered a residence on Manchester Road.
The file says he gained access through the locked front door, by forcing a foreign object between the door jam and the door and applying pressure, footage of which was reportedly captured on security camera. Saltis appears with a woman, who was later identified as Miller, the file says.
According to the report, the owner of the residence has been incarcerated since May 25, 2020, but Robinette spoke with her mother, who said she (the mother) was inside the residence at approximately 12:30 p.m. in order to feed the owner’s cats. The mother of the homeowner showed police several open drawers that appeared to have been rummaged through and an empty jewelry box on the bed. Reed said the box had been full of jewelry and was on the nightstand when she was feeding the cats just an hour prior.
Robinette spoke with the homeowner by telephone, and she told him she was not friends with Saltis and had not given him permission to enter her residence or take items.
According to the report, one day later, on Sunday June 7, Saltis admitted to using a debit card to force entry into the residence and removing several items from within. Saltis stated the female who accompanied him was Miller.
Bail for Saltis was set at $25,000 for burglary and $25,000 for conspiracy to commit a felony, while bail for Miller was set at $10,000.
The penalty for a conviction of burglary is confinement in the state penitentiary for not less than one nor more than 15 years for burglary, while the penalty for a conviction of conspiracy to commit a felony is not less than one nor more than five years in the state penitentiary, a fine of not more than $10,000 or both.
