Search still on for suspected Humvee thief

A man suspected of stealing a Humvee and using it in a convenience store burglary is still on the run.

Michael Gray, 37, of Farmington, has been formally charged this week in St. Francois County with first-degree tampering with a vehicle. He has also been charged in Ste. Genevieve County with tampering with a vehicle, second-degree burglary and misdemeanor stealing. His combined bond amount is $125,000.

According to court records, Gray stole a 1990 military-style Humvee assigned to the St. Francois County Sheriff’s Department on loan from the federal government.

On May 5, a break-in occurred at Midway Country Store in Weingarten where four packs of cigarettes and a soda were taken. Surveillance showed the man arriving and leaving in the Humvee. 

A witness identified Gray as the person who had stolen the vehicle with the intention of traveling to Florida due to an unrelated domestic assault charge being filed. Witnesses also told authorities that Gray uses heroin and synthetic drugs. 

Two witnesses admitted to wiring Gray money in Jacksonville, Fla. A relative who was unaware of the new charges pending said he picked Gray up from the bus station in St. Louis, fed him dinner and then dropped him off at the Justice Center in Clayton where the relative believed Gray was going to turn himself in for an unrelated warrant involving counterfeit money. 

The sheriff’s department was able to recover the Humvee about 40 miles from Jacksonville, Fla. 

Sheriff Dan Bullock said evidently the vehicle had been driven to Florida at top speed.

“It was driven about 50 or 60 miles per hour down there which resulted in the engine blowing up. The humvee showed up with license plates that came back to a humvee supe (a different model of the same make of vehicle). They left it sitting roadside and it was impounded down there,” said Bullock. The vehicle was turned over to the federal government.

Gray has several misdemeanors pending in St. Francois County including two domestic assault charges. He has misdemeanor traffic charges in Jefferson County and felony forgery case in St. Louis County.