DeSoto County, MS—
FAST FACTS:
- Thefts began last month in Hernando
- Several Cars Hit Across DeSoto Nightly
- Southaven Arrest Ties Suspects to Dozens of Crimes
dennis.turner@wreg.com
(DeSoto County, MS 11/03/2009) A rash of car break-ins puts DeSoto Countians on edge, and that may have led to perhaps the most important break in the case.
Now two men are behind bars, and now police say their arrest could have solved a county wide problem.
The crimes alone were shocking with dozens of cars broken into along a quiet Hernando street in a single night.
Then, the same thing in other cities. Now, an arrest in Southaven seems to have solved cases from one end of DeSoto County to the other.
Ellen Jernigan got worries when she learned about dozens of car break-ins in her neighborhood. "It is very scary because you don't know what they're looking for, items in the cars, or gonna come in your house, rob you, shoot you." she explained.
Police call them crimes of opportunity. "It's all valuables thats got stuff layin' out. Personal property, laptops to purses to GPS units, you name it," said Lieutennant Scott Evans of the Horn Lake Police Department.
Detectives say the thieves often found the cars with these prized items unlocked.
The burglaries began along quiet Mt. Pleasant Street about a month ago in Hernando. Police believe in one night, the thieves hit as many as 30 cars.
Police started seeing the same thing from city to city across DeSoto County, until last Friday, Southaven police stopped 25 year old Tony Melton of Hernando, and 21 year old Dale White of Senatobia.
Suddenly, cases from across the County started coming together. "We were able to tie at least seven different items to thefts here in Hernando and upon more research and investigation we also gonna tie them to 6 or 7 more here and also some in Olive Branch as well," said Detctive Semche Pieh of the Hernando Police Department.
He says there's no telling how many counts of burglary and felony conspiracy charges they could face.
Horn Lake is still looking at surveillance tapes from hotels near I-55 to see if the two might have committed those crimes too.
Meantime, detectives have simple advice. "Don't make it easy for 'em Those GPS units things of that nature that are sitting up on the window of the car you're just inviting a thief to get in your vehicle." said Evans.
And people who live in towns where they never worried about locking their doors, have begun to think twice. "We actually keep our doors locked and we are very cautious to keep our lights on outside." Jernigan said.
Officers say they can't stress enough how phone calls from regular folks, worried about suspicious looking characters and vehicles in their neighborhood helped crack this case.
They say more arrests could come from this investigation.
