Burglary Suspects Stole Cash, $4,000 In Cigarettes: Deputies

CARTERSVILLE, GA — Four suspects who were arrested last weekend in connection to a commercial burglary at a convenience store in Forsyth County are believed to be behind a similar incident in Bartow County.

Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Jonathan Rogers said arrests warrants for the suspects, including one juvenile, have been issued for their alleged roles in a Sept. 15 burglary at the Shell station at 5629 Highway 20 in Cartersville.

A Bartow deputy was dispatched to an alarm call around 2:40 a.m. at the gas station and arrived to find the right side door entrance of the store had been pried open. Inside the store, there were two damaged safes, several missing cartons of cigarettes and various items scattered on the floor.

There was also evidence that someone tried to access the slot machine, as it had a busted lock "with several indications that a hammer had struck the machine several times to gain entry with no success," a Bartow County Sheriff's Office incident report states.

The store owner said surveillance footage synced to his phone showed four men wearing black hoodies, black pants and black shoes. Three of the men went into the front counter area and stuffed money and merchandise into a bag while the other male tried to break into the slot machine, according to the incident report.

An inventory of the store indicates $3,000 in cash was taken from the safe and $4,000 in cigarettes, including e-cigarettes, were also stolen from the store, the report adds. The store manager said he believes it would take about $3,500 to fix the slot machine.

The four males, identified as Joshua Pitts, Tyrese Rivers, Sadaqua Holmes and a juvenile, were arrested later in the morning on Sept. 15 in connection to a burglary reported at a Chevron gas station in Forsyth County. The BCSO report indicates the four males were wearing the same clothing in the Shell surveillance footage, and one of the men was holding a yellow pry bar in his hands, according to surveillance footage provided by the Shell manager.

The Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said the suspects were apprehended Saturday with the help of the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety and the Georgia State Patrol's Aviation Unit.

(For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here)

Image via Shutterstock