GAYLORD, Mich. (WWJ) -- A woman misplacing her purse while shopping at Kohl's set off events leading to the arrest of a Northern Michigan man on half-a-dozen criminal charges.
The investigation began on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, when Michigan State Police said a woman came in to report she was at the Kohl's store in Gaylord when she put her purse down, and left it behind by mistake.
She later learned that a Good Samaritan had turned her purse in to management, but not before someone had rummaged through it — stealing both her handgun and her phone.
A check of store security footage revealed the culprit, police said. The man was caught on camera picking up the purse and going through it before discarding it in the parking lot.
The person who parked next to the suspect vehicle then found the handbag and brought it back to the store.
According to MSP, a detective trooper from the Gaylord Post recognized the man in the video as 30-year-old Scott Kelly Munsell of Mancelona — a suspect in a separate larceny case the detective has been working.
Police with a warrant searched Munsell's home on Dec. 21, Munsell was interviewed and he showed troopers items he had stolen from other businesses around the Gaylord area, MSP said.
Troopers seized over $4,000 worth of stolen items — many of which were still in the original packaging, according to police. But they didn't find the woman's gun.
Police said Munsell then admitted that he'd traded the stolen weapon for some meth in Rapid City.
A second search warrant was drafted by troopers from the MSP Houghton Lake Post for a residence in Rapid City where troopers recovered the stolen handgun "along with numerous other guns and illicit drugs," according to the police report.
Munsell was arraigned Dec. 28 in 87-A District Court in Otsego County on the following charges: one count of Larceny of Firearms, one count of Receiving and Concealing Firearms, one count of Larceny in a Building, one count of Carrying Concealed Weapon, one count of Retail Fraud First Degree, one count Retail Fraud Second Degree, and one count of Retail Fraud Third Degree.
Bond was set at $3,000 and Munsell's next court appearance was set for Jan. 11.
On Friday, police said the investigation was still ongoing.