Kansas man allegedly stole 800-pound historic cannon to pay for drug debt

WICHITA, Kan. (TCN) -- A man allegedly stole and broke a 125-year-old 800-pound cannon from a local park because he hoped to sell it to repay his drug dealer.

According to the Wichita Police Department, on April 3, police learned that a cannon had been stolen from the Spanish American War Memorial at Riverside Park, and they began searching for the culprit. That night, they found the cannon at a home but noted it was "significantly damaged." They arrested a Gordon Pierce III on charges of theft, vandalism, possession of methamphetamine, and other outstanding warrants.

On Wednesday, May 7, the police department shared surveillance and drone footage of how they tracked Pierce’s vehicle through the city. In one clip, part of the cannon is seen and heard dragging behind his SUV, which caused tire marks along the route.

According to Pierce’s arrest affidavit from May 2, officers noticed "very clear drag marks gouged into the roadway from where the cannon had been displayed," so they followed those lines to a home on North Woodland.

Officers spoke with the man who lived there, Cody Miller, and asked if they could look inside his garage, but he refused. Miller allegedly told police that Pierce brought the cannon to his home on April 1 at 3 a.m., but Miller said he "did not want that" on his property. Pierce was reportedly "freaking out," and he put the cannon, which had been cut up, in the garage.

Miller reportedly said Pierce used a Sawzall to cut the cannon, which took seven hours. Officers went to Pierce’s residence and found a blue SUV that matched the one in the surveillance video and Miller’s description. They noticed "three large circular chunks of teal metal that appeared to have come from the cannon" in the back seat. Police arrested Pierce and found meth in his pocket.

During an interview with officers, Pierce admitted that he had been using meth for 20 years, and his dealer allegedly recently gave him 1 pound of the drug to sell, though that made him "uncomfortable" because he didn’t think he could sell it. He reportedly brought the meth to his friends, but he claims he was knocked out by an acquaintance who stole the meth. He told the dealer he got robbed, and the dealer allegedly told Pierce he owed him $20,000 "or that he would shoot him and his family."

On the morning of the incident, he allegedly offered a homeless man meth in exchange for helping him move the cannon by placing chains around it and moving the chains with his car.

Once he took the cannon apart, he reportedly brought the pieces to his drug dealer "to show that he was trying to pay for what he lost." The dealer called Pierce "stupid" and said he was "going to shoot him in the head next time he sees him." That reportedly made Pierce feel "hopeless" and he wanted to tell his mom about what he did, but she was asleep.

According to the affidavit, Pierce "advised there was no specific reason for choosing the cannon other than it was in a dark area." He said he didn’t have a plan for selling the parts, either, because he did not have an ID, which is needed to sell scrap materials.

City officials told police that the cannon, which was a gift from 1901, is valued at over $100,000 and weighs more than 800 pounds.

Wichita Police said in a video, "Through good old-fashioned police work and following the clues left behind, justice prevailed."

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