Man Gets 30 Years For Burglarizing Homes In Marietta

MARIETTA, GA -- A Stone Mountain man will spend more than 30 years behind bars for burglarizing two Marietta homes and stealing items worth thousands of dollars from them, Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced Monday.

Barry Lynn Gibson, 55, was convicted last week of two counts of burglary and four counts of theft by taking. After the jury returned the guilty verdicts, Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark sentenced Gibson as a recidivist to 40 years, with a mandatory 30 years in prison and the remainder on probation. SIGN UP: To stay up to date on more local crime news, click here to sign up for the Marietta Patch. Or find your Atlanta-area town here. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.

Prosecutors said Gibson broke into a home on Elm Drive in Marietta in July 2014, then another one on Robin Lane two months later. In both heists, Gibson took big-ticket items including electronics, jewelry and two guns.

Investigators were able to link Gibson to the crimes after many of the stolen items began to pop up in area pawn shops shortly after, the DA's Office said. During their investigation, Cobb detectives learned that Gibson had been implicated in four home burglaries in DeKalb County just weeks after the incidents in Marietta.

Last year, Gibson pleaded guilty to the DeKalb burglaries.

“Not only is this Defendant a serial burglar, but he is also a convicted felon who was breaking into homes and stealing firearms, and then selling the firearms on the streets. Who buys firearms on the street? Other convicted felons and gang members,”Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Adrean, who prosecuted the case, said in a statement.

Gibson was represented by Marietta attorney Scott Halperin.

Image via Cobb Sheriff's Office