NEWS RELEASE
MICHIGAN STATE POLICE
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On Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, a woman came to the Michigan State Police (MSP) Gaylord Post to report a theft. The victim said she had been at Kohls in Gaylord shopping.
She put her purse down and left it in the store by mistake. Later in the day her husband received a Facebook message stating someone turned his wife’s purse in at Kohls. When she picked up her purse, she noticed someone had rummaged thought it and her handgun and phone were missing.
Troopers contacted Kohls and asked them to check surveillance video. Kohls’ security checked the footage and observed the woman set her purse down and then being picked up by a male suspect who left the store and went out to a vehicle. The suspect rummaged through the purse and then discarded it outside of his vehicle. The person who parked next to the suspect vehicle located the purse and brought it back to the store.
A detective trooper from the MSP Gaylord Post recognized the person in the video as being 30-year-old Scott Kelly Munsell from Mancelona. Munsell was a suspect in a separate larceny case he is working on.
A search warrant was executed at Munsell’s residence in Antrim County on December 21, 2023. Munsell was interviewed and he showed troopers items he had stolen from other businesses around the Gaylord area. Troopers seized over $4,000 worth of stolen items, many of which were still in the original
packaging. The handgun was not located at the residence. Munsell stated he traded the handgun for methamphetamine in Rapid City.
A second search warrant was drafted by troopers from the MSP Houghton Lake Post for a residence in Rapid City. Troopers recovered the stolen handgun, along with numerous other guns and illicit drugs.
Troopers were assisted in the search warrants and investigation by detectives from the Straits Area Narcotics Enforcement, Traverse Narcotics Team, and the MSP Emergency Support Team. Munsell was arraigned on December 28, 2023, in the 87-A District Court in Otsego County on one count larceny of firearms, one count receiving and concealing firearms, one count larceny in a building, one count carrying concealed weapon, one count retail fraud first degree, one count retail fraud second degree, and one count retail fraud third degree.
His bond was set at $3,000. His next scheduled court appearance is on Jan. 11. The investigation is ongoing.
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