Oct 22, 2014 3 min read

The owner of California Army-Navy Surplus store and his nephew were arraigned Wednesday on charges for allegedly selling stolen items as part of what investigators called a complex burglary ring from the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Thomas M. Miske, 63, of 206 Hopewell Road, Brownsville, the owner of the store, and his nephew, Michael A. Miske Jr., 31, of 1220 Highland Drive, California, were arraigned before District Judge Joshua Kanalis on charges of dealing in proceeds of illegal activities, receiving stolen property and conspiracy filed by Washington County Detective Beverly Ashton.

Special agents with the Naval Criminal Investigation Service began investigating a burglary ring that was stealing U.S. government property from a base in Jacksonville, N.C.

Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 18, 2013, a building at the base was entered at least four times. Items stolen included cold weather sleeping tents, military boots, small expeditionary stoves, flame-resistant gear, fleece jackets and other items valued at about $350,000.

The NCIS investigation identified suspects and developed informants who provided identities of the persons who were buying the stolen property, according to court documents filed by Ashton. One of those entities was the Army-Navy store at 1148 Wood St., California.

An informant identified Thomas Miske as the owner of the store and indicated that Michael Miske, who works at the store, paid the informant for the stolen property.

Thomas Miske allegedly contacted the informant about purchasing the military gear that the informant had posted on the auction website eBay. Between Aug. 27 and Nov. 13, 2013, the informant allegedly sold to Thomas Miske property for $32,230, which investigators indicated was well below the actual value. The informant received instructions from PayPal to ship the items to the store. The items were reportedly delivered to Thomas Miske and paid for by Michael Miske via PayPal. Several items were paid for but never received by Michael Miske.

Thomas Miske continued to contact the informant about buying more items.

The informant made a controlled telephone call to Thomas Miske Oct. 30, 2013. The informant reportedly told him the property was stolen and Thomas Miske allegedly advised that he was fine with purchasing stolen property and he wanted to buy more.

Thomas Miske reportedly sent the informant an email the following day with an itemized list of military gear he wanted the informant to obtain for them. A controlled telephone call was made Nov. 7, 2013, to Thomas Miske to arrange a time for delivery. The following week, another controlled call was made to Thomas Miske verifying he wanted the stolen property.

Investigators got a search warrant for the store from Kanalis Nov. 13, 2013. The store was searched and property valued at more than $217,000 was confiscated. Most of the items were still in original packaging with manufacturer’s tags attached.

Both men are free on $25,000 unsecured bond. They face a preliminary hearing Nov. 17 before Kanalis.