Husband-and-Wife Burglary Team Hit 60 Homes in 45 Days

Updated 5:24 AM PST, Fri, Dec 5, 2008

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Authorities say a husband-and-wife burglary team robbed about 60 homes in rural eastern Missouri and deputies discovered 100 guns at the home of the man accused of selling the stolen loot online.

All the houses were robbed in broad daylight in the last 45 days, authorities said. Police said Kibb Patrick Howard and Carla Kay Howard confessed and said they needed money to feed their addiction to heroin.

Deputies said the guns, jewelry, television and other valuables were sold online by Michael Carl Sifrit, who knew the goods were stolen.

All three face multiple state charges and authorities are seeking federal indictments, Lincoln County Lt. Andy Binder said. They are jailed in Warren County, where the first charges were filed.

The jail did not have attorney information for the three suspects.

Police said they found about 100 stolen weapons and other stolen property at Sifrit's home in Fenton. Three guns and stolen jewelry allegedly were found at his S&S Jewelers in Warrenton, which police described as a front for the illegal sale of the stolen property.

Witnesses had reported seeing a man and a woman with a tattoo on her neck in a maroon Jeep Cherokee in the areas of the burglaries.

Binder said Carla Howard, 26, would knock on the front door of a house. If someone was home, she'd make up a reason for being there, sometimes saying she was there to "pick up the puppies."

If the home was unoccupied, Kibb Howard, 27, would break in and take items such as guns, jewelry and televisions, Binder said. Police said the couple admitted to stealing about 150 weapons.