Two arrested for burglary
Two men have been arrested in Catoosa County on burglary charges, thanks to some quick police work, after they allegedly broke into a convenience store.
According to the Fort Oglethorpe Police Department:
Daniel Lee Cooper, 24, and Jerrod Lamar Thorne, 21, both of Robert E. Lee Street in Fort Oglethorpe, were arrested on Wednesday, Jan. 12, on charges of firstdegree burglary.
Bond was set for both men at $5,000, but Cooper has a hold placed on him out of Walker County due to an outstanding warrant.
Officers were dispatched to the Citgo convenience store at 2809 LaFayette Road at approximately 6:30 a.m. Jan. 12 after the store owner discovered the front glass door had been busted out with several items missing from within the store.
According to detective Sgt. Mike Goolsby, two offenders were involved, and their primary coup was several cartons of cigarettes.
“There was about $500 in damage done to the store’s door and roughly $250 worth of merchandise taken,” Goolsby said. “We were able to see on video two subjects hanging around the store, and then they killed the power to the building before entering.”
The video showed the men beginning the burglary around 4:30 a.m. Goolsby says the department was able to rely on video from surrounding businesses.
“Several of the businesses
around the store had cameras, so there’s video of the subjects walking around the store,” Goolsby said. “There’s video of them going in, and one offender was even smoking a cigarette right in front of one of the cameras.”
Goolsby also says his team was able to catch the men rather quickly thanks to aggressive police work.
“We were able to follow a trail,” Goolsby said. “Officers got the
call at 6:30 a.m., I got there about 7 a.m., and we got them in custody by 9 a.m. They dropped several items when they left the store, so we knew which direction they went, and were able to pinpoint a nearby house they were living in.”
The men were located at house approximately 200 yards away from the store.
“We recovered all the cartons of cigarettes,” Goolsby said. “The cartons had marked numbers on them from the store. Two large torch lighters, and glass smoking
devices that were taken from the store were also recovered inside the residence. The items were found stashed in the attic space of the house, and there were also packs of cigarettes scattered outside the residence.”
Officers also found tools believed to have been used in the burglary to cut the power to the building and break through the door.
“We had a great team effort of aggressive police work, and we were able to get them caught as quickly as we could,” Goolsby said.