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Domestic disturbance call leads to five arrests

Posted July 20, 2016 11:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Staff Writer

A domestic disturbance call in Tilden on Monday turned into a PokÃ©mon GO-style roundup of suspects.

Five people were arrested on varying charges as area law enforcement investigated the incident, while the search continues for a sixth suspect.

"Some of them weren't directly related to the case, but they had arrest warrants," said Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff. "It was a very time-consuming couple of days."

In a Thursday news release, Wolff outlined the timeline of events that led to the arrests and noted that the suspects were arrested without incident.

After responding to the original call at 12:40 a.m. at 800 Santa Anna St. Park 1 in Tilden, deputies were told the parties had left the area and traveled to a different location on Santa Anna Street.

When deputies arrived at that trailer, they saw Jeremy Copple standing near a vehicle. Copple then fled on foot as law enforcement approached.

While attempting to locate Copple, deputies found 26-year-old Paige M. Gleghorn, of Tilden, hiding underneath a porch. Gleghorn had an outstanding Randolph County warrant for failure to appear on a heroin possession charge.

As the search continued, deputies discovered 27-year-old Justin A. Kempfer hiding in a truck.

Kempfer, who allegedly was one of the individuals involved in the domestic disturbance, had a warrant out of St. Clair County for failure to appear.

After being unable to locate Copple, deputies recovered two stolen firearms, ammunition and drug paraphernalia in the vehicle Copple was standing near prior to fleeing the scene.

The firearms were allegedly recently stolen from a residence on Aj Lane north of Steeleville.

As deputies continued their investigation, they located a truck parked at 800 Santa Anna St. Trailer Park 2, Trailer No. 8 that matched the description of a vehicle used during the Aj Lane burglary.

After making contact with the occupant of the trailer and being given permission to search it, deputies located 41-year-old David A. Berthold, of Cutler, hiding in a closet.

Deputies learned the truck belonged to Berthold and he was arrested for possession of ammunition by a felon.

Another occupant of the trailer, 20-year-old Angela Berthold, was arrested for drug possession. Further investigation led deputies to an outbuilding in rural New Athens owned by Berthold's uncle.

Wolff told the Herald Tribune he could not release the uncle's name.

There, deputies discovered more items from the Aj Lane burglary, including three firearms and a gun cabinet. Berthold was then charged with residential burglary.

"There were some weed eaters, tools and other things," Wolff said, when asked if firearms and ammunition were the only things taken.

A fifth suspect, 29-year-old Joshua J. Rickenberg, of Tilden was also later arrested and charged with residential burglary.

All five were arrested Monday.

"All of them have had police contacts before," Wolff said, when asked if any of those arrested were familiar to law enforcement. "All suspects were taken to the Randolph County Jail, with the exception of Copple."

Wolff asked that anyone with information on the whereabouts of Copple to contact the Randolph County Sheriff's Office at 618-826-5484.

The RCSO was assisted by the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office, Sparta Police Department, Marissa Police Department and New Athens Police Department.

Wolff also confirmed his agency's K-9 unit also participated in the search.

"Several deputies responded, but later, additional manpower was called in to assist," Wolff said.

When reached for comment, Randolph County State's Attorney Jeremy Walker said the arrests were a "very fluid" situation.

"That's still much a very fluid situation and we were still working on that (Wednesday) night," he said. "Not much else to say but good heads-up police work."

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