Man confesses to Christmas Eve thefts

Petersburg Police are charging a man with multiple counts of burglary and theft after a Christmas Eve break in left a family without a vehicle, tools and firearms.

According to charging documents, police charged Neil Ray Hacker, 37, with 12 felony counts after a confession to police where he admitted to stealing nine firearms, including rifles and shotguns, along with a 2012 Toyota pickup truck, vehicle parts and tools from a warehouse on Hungerford Hill owned by Albert Hofstad.

The charging documents states a witness saw a "vehicle driving down Hungerford Hill with items falling out of the back of it."

Other witnesses collected items strewn across the roadway including tools and vehicle parts near Hammer's Marine.

Hacker, who was living at the Narrows Inn, reportedly called a friend on Christmas Day and told her he "might have done a bad thing, that he was probably going to be arrested and that she would read about in the paper," according to police documents.

Hacker later confessed to police that he used bolt cutters to break into the warehouse where he stole the items.

Larry Hofstad hired Hacker about a month ago to work on his son's Ford pickup truck that was also parked in the warehouse. Larry told police he and Hacker got into an argument around that time after which Larry fired Hacker.

Hacker appeared before Magistrate Judge Burrell on charges of one count of burglary, ten counts of theft, and one count of vehicle theft. The court set bail at $10,000 after the judge ruled Hacker, who has criminal history in Missouri, is a flight risk and a danger to the community. A preliminary hearing was set for January 8.