Arrest Recovers Honor Guard's Goods

Members of an honor guard from are getting back more than $1,700 in goods stolen from their van during an Air Force veteran’s funeral in Athens this month.

Cash, an iPad and a wedding ring were among the items stolen Aug. 3 while six members of the 94th Airlift Wing honor guard participated in the service at Evergreen Memorial Park, WSB-TV reported Aug. 8. Northeast Cobb Patch picked up the report.

It turns out that the man suspected of committing the theft was already in custody in the Athens-Clarke County Jail that day.

Russell Wade Norrod, 27, of Cookeville, TN, after police received a report of a man sleeping in a running 2005 Nissan Murano downtown, Athens Patch reported. That vehicle belongs to Norrod’s parents, Danny and Brenda, who reported it stolen in Tennessee.

Officers , along with drug-related objects, in the Murano, Athens Patch said.

Maj. Carter Greene told the Athens Banner-Herald that the missing wedding ring turned up in a pawnshop where Norrod had sold it and that Norrod took $1,757 worth of items from the Dobbins van.

The items belong to Keith Damman of Smyrna, Bryan Reed of Canton, Christopher Hubbs of Canton and Jasmine Ewing of Marietta, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

include theft by taking, theft by receiving, possession of drug-related objects and giving false information, Athens Patch said. The Banner-Herald said he faces other charges and is suspected of a similar break-in at a Covington funeral home.

Tennessee Department of Correction records show that Norrod was facing a decade in prison when he fled south.