Mar 03, 2021

Police use drone to track down Kansas church burglary suspect

Posted Mar 03, 2021 2:00 AM
Ragsdale photo Shawnee County
Ragsdale photo Shawnee County

SHAWNEE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities investigating a burglary have a suspect in custody.

Just before 2:30 a.m. February 27, police received a call for service reference an alarm at a church in the 3100 Block of SE 6th in Topeka, according to Lt. Jerry Monasmith.

As officers arrived and were checking the church's status, they noticed a suspect fleeing into a nearby tree line. The officers quickly surrounded the area and requested assistance from the Shawnee County Sheriffs Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Drone) program.

With the UAV capability, officers located the suspect and took him into custody without incident. The suspect identified as Pierce Ragsdale, 27, of Topeka had items from the church in his possession.

 Ragsdale remains jailed in the Shawnee County Department of Corrections on requested charges of Felony Obstruction, Burglary, Theft and Criminal Damage, according to Monasmith.