Lebanon woman returns home to find her things in a U-Haul truck

Maria Flora, The Lebanon Reporter, Ind.
·2 min read

Mar. 17—A Lebanon woman went shopping March 10 and found a U-Haul truck with her belongings in it parked in the driveway when she returned, police reported.

Janee Simmons called police, and they found three Anderson men thumping around in the woman's house at about 8 p.m., according to a probable cause affidavit. The trio came with crow bars and bolt cutters and were all wearing gloves when armed police encountered them, Boone County Sheriff's Deputies Nicholas Zuranski and Chris Ridgeway reported.

Deputy Tyler Moriarty was already investigating a burglary that occurred earlier in the week at Simmons' secluded home on Lebanon's north side. Burglars who have success on a small scale often return for more goods, Zuranski wrote in his report on the second burglary.

Ridgeway heard thumping inside the house and entered to find Dustin Rusher, 37, who claimed he was cleaning out the house for a friend who was going to own it and then asked for an attorney, according to court records.

Tylor Lowers, 37, and William Keatts, 42, both said they thought Rusher was going to buy the home and they were helping him clean it out, police reported.

Simmons found some of her belongings scattered about and broken and her mail bagged by the front door, according to the affidavit. Police searched the trio and found collectable and foreign coins belonging to Simmons and her father, and they found Simmon's property in the truck, according to the affidavit.

The others told police Rusher rented the truck and asked Lowery to drive because he was the only one of the three with a valid license, court records indicate.

Rusher pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle as a habitual traffic violator in Madison County in 2014.

Each of the three is charged with one count of burglary, a level 4 felony, and one count of residential entry, a level 6 felony, in Boone Superior Court I. They are scheduled for pre-trial hearings in May.

Keatts also is charged with possession of methamphetamine and a controlled substance in two Madison County cases.

Lowers also is charged with assisting a criminal and pleaded guilty to criminal trespass and theft in 2022, in Madison County cases and pleaded guilty to domestic battery in the same county in 2019.