Douglas Eugene Corl

A Leesburg resident is in custody after police charged him with one count of burglary and one count of theft.

Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department officers arrested Douglas Eugene Corl, 21, of Leesburg, after following up on a call from Brandon Bucher of Kosciusko County, who reported the theft of a Winchester model 12 shotgun and a Thompson Center Arms 50 caliber muzzleloader from an outbuilding on his property. Corl confessed to breaking into Bucher’s outbuilding and taking the firearms after police discovered a wig and baseball cap in the trunk of his car, matching those the suspect wore in a surveillance video taken during the incident. Corl’s shoes also matched those of the suspect in the video.

Bucher identified Corl, a past employee, as a possible suspect. KCSD Officer Kraig Kuhn, who responded to the call, went to an address that Bucher had provided. There he found Christopher Pezan. Pezan told Kuhn he had recently purchased two firearms from Corl for $75. The firearms matched the descriptions of the two stolen from Bucher. Pezan provided another address, where Kuhn found Corl, who reportedly gave officers consent to search his car and confessed to taking the firearms.

According to reports from the KCSD, Corl told officers he tried, unsuccessfully, to force his way into the front entrance, then used a screwdriver to pry open a locked window, entered the window and took the firearms to sell. Police also noted that Corl described wearing a Glock handgun like one seen in the surveillance video.