Eagle Pawn Shop in Springfield pleads guilty to receiving stolen property

A pawn shop must pay $3,000 in fines after police and prosecutors say it's had a pattern of receiving stolen property.

Eagle Pawn Shop in Springfield on Battlefield Road near Fort Avenue, near Hy-Vee, is co-owned by Corey Loftis, who pleaded guilty on behalf of the business to three counts of receiving stolen property. It has to pay $1,000 on each of three counts, but will remain in business. Loftis was not charged personally.

"They are not the only pawn shop we are investigating," said Springfield Police Sgt. Dave Meyer.

Meyer says police mean business -- and this fine against Eagle Pawn should serve as a warning.

"In some of these cases that we're talking about, the pawn shops have purchased new and in-the-box merchandise from repeated customers, over and over again without asking any questions," Meyer said.

Other pawn shop owners in town say integrity pays in the long run.

"There's a temptation there: the deal is so good, there is money to be made. Do you want to take that risk? But I think, for the most part, most of the shop owners, they train their guys. If you have any suspicion that it's stolen or if there's any kind of flag that the guy or gal is throwing up, just don't do it, it's just not worth it," said Brandon Haling, owner of Armed Sources Gun and Pawn on Grant Avenue near Sunshine Street.

Haling says it's his responsibility to make sure an item isn't stolen, and says customers should rest assured there's protection in shopping at a brick-and-mortar business.

"They can find used firearms, there's paper work so that they are protected if it is stolen. Or, if there is something wrong with it, if you buy and sell out at the swap meet or Facebook, and you meet in the Bass Pro parking lot, there is no protection there," Haling explained. "If it's stolen, it's on you and it comes back to you. But if it's stolen and we sell it to you, it comes back to us."

KY3 News reached out to Corey Loftis for an on-camera interview. Loftis declined.

Eagle Pawn & Jewelry entered a guilty plea to three counts of misdemeanor receiving stolen property. Corey Loftis, an owner of Eagle Pawn & Jewelry, entered the plea on behalf the business, which had a practice of buying stolen merchandise and was fined a total of $3,000.

These convictions were made possible by the hard work of the Springfield Police Department which recognized the need to investigate the businesses providing a market for stolen merchandise. The Springfield Police Department and the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office encourage all pawn shops and brokers in used merchandise to practice due diligence by refusing to purchase items which appear to have been stolen and notify law enforcement of anyone attempting to sell such items.

Additionally, all residents need to be cautious when purchasing items from pawn shops, Craigslist, or other second hand stores. Under Missouri law, if an item is purchased at a price that is known to be far below the reasonable value, this fact can be used as evidence that the individual or business knowingly received or purchased stolen property.

The State charged Eagle Pawn & Jewelry with buying and receiving multiple boxes of ammunition and golf equipment that had been stolen from Academy Sports and Golf Headquarters. During the course of the investigation, Springfield Detectives discovered three individuals were repeatedly selling stolen items to Eagle Pawn & Jewelry on a regular basis.

Eagle Pawn & Jewelry bought the stolen items even though the items were in new and un-opened boxes. One individual sold more than 227 boxes of ammunition to Eagle Pawn and another sold 73 boxes within a one month time period, sometimes making multiple sales in a day.

Another incident involved Eagle Pawn purchasing a golf simulator that was new in the box which was stolen from Golf Headquarters about fifteen minutes earlier. Police were able to recover most of the items stolen and return them to Academy Sports and Golf Headquarters.