A Lone Oak man is in custody and will appear in court next week, after breaking into a McCracken County home early Saturday morning.
Around 4 am Saturday a 911 call was received at Paducah-McCracken County E-911 Center from a female resident in the 4000 block of Magruder Road in western McCracken County. She reported that she was hiding inside a closet and believed that someone had broken into her home. The dispatcher stayed on the phone with the caller while law enforcement officers where responding. Soon afterwards, the suspect came into the bedroom and opened the closet door.
The caller confronted the suspect with a loaded pistol, just as McCracken Sheriff's Sgt. David Shepherd arrived. The suspect after being confronted by the resident with the handgun, ran from the residence out the front door. Sgt. Shepherd chased the suspect into a cornfield and tackled him, and placed him under arrest. The homeowner was not injured, but understandably shaken.
Sheriff's deputies and Paducah Police who responded to assist, located numerous items the suspect had hidden near the driveway of the home. He reportedly had made several trips in and out of the home, carrying items that he was stealing from the home. Some of the items recovered included a rifle and several boxes of ammunition. Two vehicles that were parked at the residence had also been broken into by the suspect. The suspect reportedly caused damage in excess of $1,000 to the vehicle and home during the theft and burglary.
Sheriff's detectives learned that the suspect was living on Charleston Avenue behind Lone Oak Middle School, and two streets away from Lone Oak Intermediate School, Lone Oak Elementary, and a daycare center. A search of his home turned up multiple homemade improvised explosive devices including types of pipe bombs, literature on the making of bombs and IED's, Kevlar bulletproof vests, ammunition, tear gas, and other related items.
In the basement of the home, additional related items were located, and it appeared that the devices were being made and/or manufactured there. An agent with the ATF as well as the Kentucky State Police bomb squad and Paducah Police bomb squad were called and requested to assist at the scene. Numerous items were seized from the home by the bomb technicians and taken as evidence.
The suspect, 42-year-old Jon M. Mullins, is a convicted felon. His criminal record includes convictions for trafficking in a controlled substance in 1990, possession of both handgun and long gun by a convicted felon-possession of meth, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia in 2004, criminal trespassing 1st degree in 2010, and theft by unlawful taking in 2011.
Relating to the early morning residential burglary, he has been charged with the following: burglary 1st degree, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, criminal mischief 1st degree, fleeing or evading on foot, possession of burglary tools, and theft by unlawful taking over $500.
Federal charges are pending related to the search of his home in Lone Oak. The District Court Clerk's office said Mullins bond was set at $10,000 Monday, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 3.
