Sedgwick County Deputies Arrest Two in Large Burglary Ring Bust

February 17, 2010

by Cliff Judy (WICHITA, Kan.)

Two men are in custody after the Sedgwick County Sheriff's Office broke up a suspected burglary ring. Investigators are now sifting through at least $100,000 worth of stolen property, some of it coming from a local elementary school and a township.

The arrests came last Thursday when a woman caught one of the men trying to steal from her home southeast of Haysville.

The suspect took off and was later arrested. Investigators also caught a second man and recovered a storage unit full of stolen items in south Wichita. Police identified them as 29-year-old James Sanderford and 30-year-old Dominic Voelker.

Both men were charged with burglary, theft, and criminal possession of a firearm. Investigators say more charges are likely.

Detectives have linked the suspects to burglaries of Oatville Elementary in the Haysville School District. The Waco Township also had property stolen.

Pat Yorgensen, principal at Oatville Elementary, says just a week after a Christmas break burglary where suspects stole electronic equipment, it happened again.

"Through the same window that we had just finished repairing," says Yorgensen, "and they took the projector that I'd replaced. They took a laptop that I'd replaced and more."

Yorgensen says the burglaries were hard to fathom once, much less twice.

"The whole month of January, we were talking about how we were going to cut our budgets and save and everything, and then how could they come in and take from the kids?" says Yorgensen.

Detectives recovered a large amount of stolen electronics, luggage, hand and power tools, clothing, jewelry, and a record collection. Investigators say what's now sitting in a sheriff's garage is probably just the start of what the suspects stole, items they weren't able to sell or pawn.

"There's stuff here that I quite literally believe people don't know is missing," says Sedgwick County Sheriff's Sergeant Gary Hargus.

Police believe the items were stolen in the last four or five months during other burglaries to homes, buildings and storage units.

If you've been burglarized recently and want to know if any of your belongings were recovered as part of the sheriff's bust, you can call the department's investigations unit at (316) 660-5300.

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