Two smash-and-grab burglars from Missouri who ventured into Colorado and bashed into the Best Way Sales gun shop in Springfield to steal 19 guns were sentenced Wednesday to prison terms.
Napoleon Williams and Calvin Terrell Stafford attached a chain from a truck to the front door at 3 a.m. Aug. 11 and tried to break the front door. When that failed they broke the front window, setting off an alarm. They stuffed the guns, including five rifles into big bags, threw the bags in the back of the truck and fled to Missouri, court records say.
Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents traced their movements through their cellphones but not before they sold all but one of the guns on the street, the records say.
The smash-and-grab robbery was one of dozens of similar Colorado burglaries in 2017 in which offenders often stole pickup trucks, drove them into gun store entrances and snatched as many high-end pistols and rifles as they could.
A task force was set up by federal authorities to track down arrest several offenders. Brazen thieves even broke into the Dragonman Gun Shop in Colorado Springs, which is renowned for its massive collection of war arms including machine guns, a tank and hand grenades.
