Convicted burglar and arsonist sent to state treatment center

Jeff Lehr, The Joplin Globe, Mo.
·2 min read

Jul. 28—A 27-year-old defendant was sentenced to a stint in the state's Institutional Treatment Center when he pleaded guilty this week to breaking into a house in Joplin and setting it on fire.

Dilyan A. Collins, of Joplin, pleaded guilty to second-degree burglary, second-degree arson, resisting arrest and theft of a firearm at a hearing Monday in Jasper County Circuit Court.

The defendant changed his plea to guilty on those counts in a plea agreement dismissing four other felony counts he was facing from arrests in the past two years for unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest and possession of a controlled substance on two occasions.

The plea deal called for concurrent terms of seven years on each of the arson, burglary and theft convictions, and four years for the resisting arrest with the sentences to be served at the ITC and the court to review his case after 120 days for possible placement on probation.

Judges Gayle Crane and Dean Dankelson accepted the plea agreement with respect to the cases in each of their courts and assessed the defendant the agreed-upon sentences.

Three of the convictions pertain to the Jan. 8 burning of a residence at 1502 S. Bird Ave. A probable-cause affidavit states that Collins and a female accomplice forcibly entered the residence in possession of a plastic bottle containing gasoline, which Collins used to ignite a fire on the window sills of the south exterior of the house.

When the resulting fire did not initially spread, Collins kicked in the front door of the residence, entered the structure and set the bedrooms on the south side on fire, according to the affidavit.

The suspects were spotted running from the residence as officers arrived on the scene. Collins was eventually cornered and apprehended by a police dog in the crawl space of a residence in the 1600 block of South Connor Avenue.

The conviction for theft of a firearm pertains to a Ruger handgun he stole on July 22, 2020, from a woman he was visiting in Joplin. Police recovered text messages sent by the defendant in which he admitted to stealing the gun, according to a probable-cause affidavit.