A Columbia man was charged with second-degree robbery Tuesday in Cole County after a DNA test allegedly tied him to the forcible theft of a big-screen TV from Sam's Club in Jefferson City in April.
Dustin O. Deacon, 25, allegedly grabbed a 65-inch TV from the store on April 27 at about 6:50 p.m.
Second-degree robbery is a class B felony.
The suspect - who was unknown at the time, according to a probable cause statement - fled the store through a fire escape door. A store employee tried to stop the suspect and grabbed the suspect by the shoulder, but the suspect punched the employee in the face and fled the scene in a vehicle parked by the fire escape.
The suspect lost a baseball cap and a pair of sunglasses at the scene during the altercation, however. The items were sent to the Missouri Highway Patrol Lab for DNA analysis.
The lab's October report identified the DNA profile developed from the sunglasses as Deacon.
He refused to speak to a Jefferson City Police Department detective without an attorney present while he was incarcerated in Boone County Jail in November. However, a search warrant for Deacon's DNA was granted through the Boone County courts, and a sample was obtained for comparison to the profile developed by the Highway Patrol lab.
Deacon is listed as "at large" in the probable cause statement. A warrant for his arrest was issued Tuesday, and bond was set at $5,000.