Friday, Aug. 19, 2005 | ||
Bad Links? | Police nab burglarBy BEN NELMS A recent trip to Golden Shine Car Wash on Ga. Highway 74 in Fairburn for Riverdale resident Dwayne Byess may have been more than he bargained for. The visit ended in his arrest on multiple charges by Fairburn Police Officer Scott Wood, who had been patrolling the area. Thirty-nine year-old Byess was charged with criminal damage to property, theft by taking, criminal trespass, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and carrying a pistol without a license, according to police reports. In the incident report, Wood said he responded to an alarm at Golden Shine Car Wash shortly after 11 p.m. where he found the lights out at the 24-hour business. Lights were on at other nearby businesses, he said. Wood pulled into the business and exited his vehicle and began a search of the car wash bays. Wood said he discovered a vehicle parked in one of the bays. The vehicle matched the description of one that had been caught on video during a previous theft. Wood said Byess walked from behind the main part of the building at the same time and was stopped and frisked for weapons. In Byess pockets Wood found a loaded .22 caliber handgun, a switchblade knife and two clip knives, two flashlights, two pairs of pliers, two wire cutters, a brass colored mini-pad lock and $144 in $1 bills, several $5 bills and change in a change purse. A search of Byess vehicle revealed tools and a tool bag containing a pry bar and bolt cutters and, in the bed of the truck, a cash box later identified as one having been taken from one of the wall machines, the report said. A check of the crime scene by Det. Ben Pace revealed that three of the cash boxes in the bays had been ripped open as was one of the vacuum cleaner boxes. The locks on the other vacuums matched the on found in Byess possession. Two prying tools were also found hidden on top of the electric box. A subsequent check of the video system showed Byess approach the electric box and switch off the lights, reports said. Pace said the car wash had been burglarized a number of times since it opened approximately one year ago. As for Byess, Pace said he had been arrested by union City Police two weeks prior to the Golden Shine burglary for breaking in to two car washes in the city. Byess had outstanding warrants from Riverdale on felony thefts, he added. Pace said the firearm found on Byess subsequent to the Golden Shine burglary had been stolen in an earlier Riverdale burglary. Fairburn Police Chief Charles Long said Wood had checked the car wash approximately 30 minutes prior to apprehending Byess. He been assigned stay in the area as part of the police response to burglaries of car wash facilities in the area. Doing so enabled Wood to respond quickly when the alarmed was triggered, Long said. Acting Watch Commander Bob Justice said Wood is the type of officer that performs his job in a self-supervising and self-directed manner. When you give him a task you dont have to supervise him, said Justice. I was so impressed with his actions I recommended him for a commendation. Long said he, too, was pleased with Woods actions. Those actions were an example of an officer being accountable for his area. He was doing what he was supposed to be doing when he was supposed to being doing it. And he caught the bad guy, said Long. |
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