Court date set for alleged gun thief

GREENCASTLE -- A Poland man has been charged with two felony counts in connection with the theft of guns from a Putnam County residence.

Robert (Forey) Standifer, 19, faces charges of Class B felony burglary and Class D felony theft. The alleged incident took place during the overnight hours between April 21 and 22.

A warrant for Standifer's arrest was issued July 28, and he was apprehended on July 30. He has pled not guilty to both charges and the court appointed public defender James Recker to represent him.

According to court documents, a theft of guns -- two rifles and a shotgun -- from a Reelsville residence was reported to the Putnam County Sheriff's Department on April 22. The person who reported the alleged crime told Putnam County Sheriff's Department Detective Pat McFadden that he and his wife work nights, and that when they returned home on the morning of April 22 he discovered three guns missing from a gun rack he kept in a locked room inside his home.

The victim told McFadden the door to the room was still locked, but that the screen on the window had been cut from the outside.

A scene technician was called in. The technician took a partial shoe print from under the window on the outside of the house, as well as latent handprints from the same window.

A search warrant was then issued for the retrieval of major case prints from Standifer, court records said. Prints were taken from Standifer while he was in jail in Owen County on an unrelated charge. Standifer told officers he was friends with the alleged victim's stepdaughter and that "he had been in the house several times" and that "his prints would be all over the house."

The prints were sent to the Indiana State Police Laboratory in Indianapolis. The results, which came back on June 26, identified the prints as Standifer's.

Putnam County Circuit Court Judge Matthew Headley set a pretrial conference for Oct. 1 and set Standifer's bond at $30,000 with 10 percent allowed. Standifer remained lodged at the Putnam County Jail as of Wednesday afternoon.

Standifer's Putnam County criminal history includes 2008 convictions for misdemeanor reckless driving and driving while suspended.