Court rejects Joplin man's appeal of conviction for burglary, failure to register as a sex offender

The Missouri Southern District Court of Appeals today rejected a Joplin man's effort to have his conviction in Jasper County Circuit Court on burglary and failure to register as a sex offender charges overturned.

A Jasper County jury convicted Lonnie Tilton, 46, at the conclusion of a July 20, 2021 trial. Judge Dean Dankelson sentenced Tilton to 18 years on the burglary charge and five years for the failure to report as a sex offender with the sentences to run consecutively.

Tilton's crimes were described in the court's opinion:

Defendant was charged with first-degree burglary for entering a building (Victim’s attached garage) “for the purpose of committing stealing therein, and while in such building, there was present in such building, [Victim], a person who was not a participant in the crime.” 

Defendant’s actions were captured by Victim’s surveillance cameras, and the footage (“the surveillance footage”) was played for the jury at trial. 

Victim’s garage was attached to her home, and the surveillance footage showed that after subtly scanning the area to see if anyone was looking, Defendant entered the garage from the sidewalk, grabbed a pair of pants, threw them over his shoulder, then walked back out of the garage, taking the pants with him. Victim and her son were inside the home when Defendant was inside the garage. 

The State produced evidence that Defendant had a prior conviction for sexual abuse in the second degree, an offense that required him to register as a sex offender. 

Defendant told the police that before he entered Victim’s garage, he had been staying for “approximately a week or so” with his girlfriend at the Economy Inn after he had been released from an unrelated incarceration. Defendant did not update his residential address on the sex offender registry to show that he was residing at the Economy Inn.