(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice)
An Arkansas man has been indicted on federal charges accusing him of stealing more than $50,000 from schools and businesses in Missouri and Iowa over a nearly two-year span.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said 40-year-old Curtis Lee Barton was indicted Wednesday in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on one count of conspiracy to transport stolen property in interstate commerce and three counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.
Prosecutors allege Barton and another person carried out the thefts between May 2023 and April 2025. The indictment lists schools in Lewistown, Brookfield, Shelbyville and Adair County among the Missouri locations targeted.
Court records show some stolen funds had been earmarked for struggling children and the Special Olympics.
The indictment also states that Barton researched schools and law enforcement before breaking in overnight to avoid detection.
The FBI and the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office in Iowa investigated. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting the case.
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