3 teens arrested in Adams County duck club thefts
<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Three teenagers were arrested Tuesday night in connection with a string of burglaries of duck clubs along the Mississippi River North Bottoms in Adams County.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The suspects were taken into custody following an investigation carried out by the Adams County Sheriff's Office in cooperation with Illinois Department of Natural Resources Conservation Police.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We had five actual thefts, and they went into each club and pretty well cleaned out their decoy spread and took all the shotgun shells and sodas and anything they could use for hunting," Adams County chief deputy Fred Kientzle said Wednesday. "And we've got them all solved. We made an arrest last night, and we've got 98 percent of it back.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"I think by the time we are done, we will have everything back."</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Arrested were Reagan Ruths, 19, and Jesse Wegs, 17, both of Quincy, and a juvenile.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">An exact dollar estimate for the stolen items was not available, but Kientzle said the decoys alone were worth thousands of dollars. Among them were spinning-wing decoys, known as "robo ducks," goose decoys and others.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"Anything they could get out of a spread they grabbed," Kientzle said.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The teens allegedly were apprehended with stolen property in their possession. </font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Ruth and Wegs were charged with theft over $300 and possession of stolen property over $300. They spent the night in the Adams County Jail pending a court appearance Wednesday morning. The male juvenile was released to a parent.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The thefts started about a week ago.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"They were hitting two and three (duck clubs) a night," said Kientzle.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">The theft of decoys and hunting equipment is something people take personally along the Mississippi River, where waterfowl hunting is popular.</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">"We're big hunters over here," he said. "We've got a lot on our plates, but when we have people stealing this much, we take this as a very serious matter."</font>
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<p class="BODY" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Imperial">Chris Young can be reached at (217) 788-1528 or chris.young@sj-r.com.</font>