Area man arrested in Ballwin

An area man who has several felony warrants in St. Francois County was arrested in Ballwin Monday evening after EMS was called for a medical emergency.

Ballwin Police Officer Mike Burgoyne said officers were called to the parking lot of Target located at 15025 Manchester Road for a suspicious vehicle.

“When officers arrived a foot pursuit ensued with the driver of the vehicle, who was later identified as Dusty Walters, 33, (of Doe Run),” Burgoyne said. “Officers were attending to the passenger, who seemed to be suffering a medical emergency while Walters fled.”

Burgoyne said Walters was eventually caught and during a search of his vehicle, several items were found, narcotics, paraphernalia, counterfeit money, Missouri driver’s licenses issued to other people and forged checks.

The Ballwin Police Department is seeking charges of possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, providing false information to a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia. The charges regarding the counterfeit money, checks and IDs are pending at this time.

Burgoyne said the passenger was released with no charges and they are attempting to identify possible victims of these crimes. If anyone is suspected of being a victim of Walters’, please contact Detective Coulibaly with the Ballwin Police Department at 636-227-9636.

Walters currently has three active cases in St. Francois County and one in Ste. Genevieve County from this year alone. He is facing two class D felonies of forgery, class D felony of stealing and class B misdemeanor of making a false report in St. Francois County on three separate cases and Ste. Genevieve County he is facing a class E felony of passing a bad check.

According to a probable cause statement, on April 4 the Farmington Police Department reported that Walters passed a computer-generated, fraudulent check to Plummer’s Ace Hardware in the amount of $260.02.

The check was drawn from the account of two separate men and it was later confirmed that the two men on the supposed account didn’t even know each other, nor did they own the account the check was written.

Walters purchased an impact drill and an impact wrench with the check and signed the check with a false name.

On April 6, Walters rented a Mighty-M power washer valued at $2,614.15, a high pressure hose valued at $200 and a flat surface cleaner valued at $332.45. Walters rented the equipment under the name of one of the men he used on the check.

It was discovered the identity he was using was that of a man who had been incarcerated in the Missouri Department of Corrections since June 2017. A photo lineup was shown to three employees at the business and they all picked Walters out of the lineup.

On May 9 Walters passed an altered or fictitious check in the amount $253.52 to Plummer’s Ace Hardware in Farmington. The check was drawn on a Wells Fargo Bank account belonging to another man and named that man with a business and the incarcerated man’s name. Wells Fargo revealed no account was located for the account number.

Walters signed the incarcerated man’s name on the check and the other man named is in an adult in a senior assisted living center. A Farmington detective was able to identify Walters from in-store video surveillance.

Walters also has multiple prior felony convictions and felony warrants for passing bad checks, possession of methamphetamine, forgery, stealing, tampering with a motor vehicle and probation violation out of St. Francois, Iron and Ste. Genevieve Counties.

Walters has a total bond of $30,000 on the three St. Francois cases and is being held in the St. Louis County Jail on multiple warrants and pending charges from the Ballwin Police Department.

Dusty Walters

Walters

Renee Bronaugh is a reporter for the Daily Journal and can be reached at 573-518-3617 or rbronaugh@dailyjournalonline.com