Kiln man was already a felon. Then he broke into a Boy Scout camp and stole guns.
A second Kiln man who broke into a Boy Scout camp — stealing rifles, a pickup and other items — has been sentenced to prison.
Jeremy Perkins has admitted he was one of two men who broke in at the Salmen Boy Scout Reservation Camp’s workshop and cafeteria in Perkinston a year ago and stole 11 rifles, a pickup, tools and a tool box, District Attorney Joel Smith said.
The 30-year-old Perkins pleaded guilty this week on two counts of burglary and one count of felon in possession of a firearm in Hancock County Circuit Court, Smith said Friday.
Judge Lisa Dodson sentenced Perkins to 24 years in prison and suspended 12 years, ordering 12 years to serve followed by 12 years of probation, Smith said in a news release.
Dodson ordered his person term served consecutive to a 10-year sentence he had received in Pearl River County on a firearm conviction. That prison sentence had been suspended, but his probation will be revoked because of the Hancock County convictions, Smith said.
Dodson also fined Perkins $2,000 and ordered $3,500 in restitution to the Boy Scout camp for damages.
The Boy Scout Reservation is at Camp V-Bar, a nonprofit recreational and educational area near Morning Glory Lake. It is used by Boy Scouts and other groups.
The camp break-ins were reported Aug. 5, 2017.
Sheriff’s investigators used surveillance video to identify Perkins and Dameon Cuevas and recovered most of the stolen property, including the pickup Smith said.
Because Perkins already had a felony conviction, the theft of firearms during the burglary led to his arrest on the firearm violation, said ADA Chris Daniel, who prosecuted the case.
Cuevas pleaded guilty to the burglaries in June. He is serving four years for the burglaries plus a 15-year prison term for a meth-manufacturing conviction, also in Hancock County, the state prison website shows. He had been on probation for the meth conviction but his probation was revoked.
Cuevas, 34, received the same fine and restitution order as Perkins.