Man goes on crime spree in LaFayette
The rap sheet on Walker County inmate Corey Chaz Warren rivals the Internal Revenue Services tax code, with the detective working the case stating that “this is an unusual case. It is out of the ordinary.”
Warren, whom the LaFayette Police Department recently arrested in a string of approximately 10 crimes, allegedly committed them all in less than 12 hours time.
“The police department is familiar with this suspect,” detective Mullis said.
The LaFayette P.D. should be familiar with Warren, since four years ago, almost to the day, the Messenger reported that they arrested him for similar type offenses.
But Warren was not serving time when these late-night July 29th, early-morning July 30th property crimes occurred.
And, as is often the case in many law enforcement arrests scenarios, these crimes
might not have been solved if not for the suspect putting himself at the scene of the crime, unnecessarily, since none of the victims in this crime spree heard or saw anyone during the commission of the crimes — except for one male victim, that is.
Houses, outbuildings, cars, trucks, sheds, utility trailers, back porches, and even a mancave were all violated in this estimated six-to-seven-hour late-night, early-morning crime spree, according to Det. Mullis.
The targeted properties followed a trajectory that spanned a total of five different drives and streets that connected to one another in one part of the city right off Main Street.
The crimes confounded several neighbors in each location when they awakened to the violation of their properties — and the additional confusion of finding other people’s things littering their own lawns.
One man was missing an Ozark cooler, which ended up in a woman’s yard one street over. Another person was missing fishing poles, which ended up in her neighbor’s yard, along with several other items of hers.
And the neighbor who inherited the fishing poles awakened to find that some of her belongings was at a different neighbor’s home in the same community.
Many of the victims were elderly, who might otherwise have thought they were suffering from memory loss if they had went seeking for a tool, fishing pole, or some other item in the normal course of a day and could not find it. But, the perpetrator in this 10-crimes-or-more case did not leave such a conclusion open to speculation.
Every item taken, with the exception of a select — and costly — few, were all found in another person’s yard within the five road area, according to the police reports, with many being found out in the open, in plain sight, at the property owners’ neighbor’s house... in that neighbor’s front or side yard, so it could not be missed.
This type of theft behavior is often linked to juveniles, and can lead to a slap on the wrist or misdemeanor charges. However, these thefts, which included the theft of a laptop estimated to be worth $900 (and belonging to a technical college), as well as handcuffs and other items removed from the vehicle of an officer-in-training (who lives in LaFayette but is not affiliated with any Walker County or LaFayette law enforcement agency) can net serious time for the suspect if convicted of the charges in the state of Georgia.
Georgia code law, burglary and theft by taking (two of the charges in these 10 reports), are felony offenses.
As of Aug. 2nd, Corey Chaz Warren, 29, has been charged with the following regarding these thefts and property trespass violations:
Seven burglaries; one criminal trespass; three entering automobile or other motor vehicle with intent; and, two theft by taking charges.