Wichita Falls PD: Man who stole vintage comics also took prayer rugs from same home

A man already charged with the theft of several vintage comic books has now been accused of stealing two prayer rugs from the same residence.

Marcus Alan Benner, 41, is now facing two counts of burglary of a habitation – a second-degree felony. His total bail is set at $50,000.

According to the arrest warrant affidavit:

On July 27, Wichita Falls detectives were assigned to follow up on a report of a burglary.

The victim's daughter told police that the burglary happened in the 4600 block of Seymour Highway between June 30 and July 10.

At the time the report was made, two prayer rugs from Uzbekistan were missing, and no suspect information was known.

The same victim had his residence burglarized two more times on July 15 and July 25.

During that time period, the victim placed a surveillance camera in the home and got video of the suspect.

He caught video of the suspect in one of the burglaries taking several vintage comic books.

On Aug. 1, detectives went to Galaxy Comics in reference to the comic book theft case.

The owner of the store did not recognize suspect at the time, but later said Benner had come into his business at 4:40 p.m. that same day and sold him two comic books.

Detectives had also identified the suspect in the video as Benner through a Crime Stoppers tip received on Aug. 2.

Around midnight on Aug. 3, the WFPD tactical unit located Benner and had him detained. He was taken to the police station to be interviewed by detectives.

After being read his rights, Benner agreed to waive them and speak with the detectives.

He denied having anything to do with the burglaries and sat silent for "a good amount of time."

Benner was not cooperative, so one of the detectives left the interview room to start typing an arrest warrant for the comic book theft.

The other detective remained in the interview room and showed Benner the surveillance video of him burglarizing the victim's home.

Benner still refused to cooperate or speak of the burglary to the detective, so the interview was ended. Benner was taken out of the room and seated in the hallway.

A short time later, he decided he wanted to tell the detective about the burglary and confessed to the comic book theft.

More:Wichita Falls PD: Man caught on video stealing $100k worth of comic books

Based on the information given, detectives obtained two search warrants for two Wichita County residences.

While executing a warrant at a home on Farm-to-Market Road 171, detectives learned that Benner had been staying in one of the bedrooms.

They searched that room and located two rugs that were believed to be the prayer rugs reported as stolen.

The detectives seized the two rugs, two duffel bags, a black box with earrings and a tan box with various jewelry items.

At the second residence on Rifle Range Road, detectives seized red sparing gear, several pieces of luggage and bamboo fighting sticks while executing that search warrant.

On Aug. 8, the victim came to the police station to view the items that were seized. He identified the rugs that were reported as being stolen.