Fayetteville officer prevents burglary

Mon, 07/16/2007 - 10:48am
By: John Munford

Fayetteville police arrested three men early Thursday morning after an officer spotted them acting strangely in the parking lot of the Jiffy Lube.

One of the suspects admitted they were in the area casing out places to steal copper wiring, said Lt. Beverly Trainor. Their car also had a significant number of burglary tools inside, Trainor noted.

Officer Warren Hartley spotted the three as they pulled into the Jiffy Lube on north Glynn Street at 2:20 a.m. They were acting strangely and Hartley pulled into the parking lot — later joined by backup officers — and questioned the suspects, Trainor said.

At first none of the suspects’ stories matched up as to what they were doing, and Hartley noticed several signs of drug use, including dilated pupils and a slow response to light, Trainor said. One of the suspects admitted to being high on meth at the time, she added.

The suspects were identified as Rodney Evans Lankford, 37, of Hosanah Road, Locust Grove; Andrew David Bedingfield, 43, of Fitzgerald Road, Jonesboro; and Michael Leonard Madaris, 39, of High Falls Road, Griffin. All three were charged with conspiracy to commit burglary, possession of burglary tools and loitering, police said. Madaris, the driver, was also charged with possession of dangerous drugs and two traffic offenses.

Police think the three may be responsible for other copper thefts that have been reported throughout the metro Atlanta area, Trainor said.

Hartley received a letter of commendation from Police Chief Steven Heaton for his actions in the investigation, particularly for using his interview skills to determine what happened.

Hartley, an officer with Fayetteville since 2001, spotted the suspects’ activity while he was parked with his patrol car’s lights off at the former Shell station just south of Jiffy Lube, Trainor said.

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Tug13's picture
Submitted by Tug13 on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 9:14am.

Fayetteville police department, and officer Hartley.

A question for any Fayetteville police officers who post here.
How is the working environment since J. Roberts "retired?"
I hear Chief Heaton is great. Smiling


Submitted by Aerocop on Tue, 01/29/2008 - 10:20am.

Heaton is too busy milking Calea and ignoring the patrol division. The guys on the road are burned out and can't take a day off. Officers are quitting and not being replaced. Heaton vs. Roberts??
Same difference..

Submitted by CI5835 on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 12:15am.

Hartley on identifying the unlawful activity and making the resulting arrests. you performed your duties to the letter of the law and deserve the commendation received. thanks as well to the officers who backed him up...great job guys and keep it up. THANK YOU.

Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:41pm.

Would you consider patrolling the cart paths? We need someone who is tough on crime.

Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:34pm.

As you can see from this blog site the blog characters dollaraday-and no-common-sense, and bladderq-loves-crime-and drugs both LOVE crime and the criminals who commit crimes!!.

They love you all sooooo much that if you would just show up at their homes they would let you move in. (the rest of the smart people in Fayette have guns...so don't try to move in with them) These 2 knuckleheads love you criminals. So ....here is some homework for you find out their names and addresses from this site and move in.....it really is just that easy.

Tug13's picture
Submitted by Tug13 on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 9:18am.

Are you serious? I don't want some of the crazy people who post here to know who I am, or where I live!


Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 11:04am.

My detective is nearing the actual location of Skyspy. When we get it, I will let you know.
His stuff will be recorded automatically for the lawsuit!

Submitted by bladderq on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:16pm.

Don't these people ever watch NYPD Blue, Law & disOrder, CSI, Crime Story, et al? Never talk to the cops. Never give permission. What can one say? Hawk 1 doesn't git credit for regular 'trolling.
At least they all seem to have "Irish" names to suit the Beav.

Submitted by tonto707 on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 6:38pm.

and say thanks to your fellow officers from all the decent people in Fayetteville. And by the way, please ignore gumps like dollar, we don't hold retarded people accountable. It's called 'lack of capacity'.

Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 7:45pm.

Us indecent people in Fayette County won't let Tonto speak for us....all the decent ones, maybe.
Couldn't we just print up several thousand "thank you" notes for the police and firemen and just give them one every day when they report to work?
Might do the same thing for our soldiers, our nurses, our doctors, our insurance agent, our morticians, guys who dig the graves, our newspaper boys and girls, our grocery baggers, and of course our telephone money lender callers!
It won't increase the budgets for these people to brag on them all of the time!
Lets just pay them decently, which we aren't, and expect them to do the job since they volunteered for it. We can no longer hire Barney Fife at $3,500 per year to be a cop. Much more complicated than that. The old days of "Bull" Connor are also gone.

Mixer's picture
Submitted by Mixer on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 5:36pm.

While we were sleeping the heroes were catching the zeros and keeping us all safe.

Let's have a group hug Eye-wink

The sad thing is, dollar may be right about one thing: the DA may lose this one before we ever get to the courtroom. Or, more likely, he may plea it down to 'loitering'.

Dang ole' 'cat box breath' DA - we need a new one - one that is tough on crime, one that will back our outstanding men and women of the police and sheriff forces.

Grrrrrrrrrr - Get Tough on Crime!!!

Do you want to see some current examples of liberal media bias? Click Here.


Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 2:42pm.

Moral: Don't act strange in Fayette County. Don't have any tools in your car. Don't have dilated pupils from the cough syrup, so he said.
Doubt if this one comes to trial.

Submitted by theguy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 5:28pm.

You're such an idiot. Did you ever stop to think that the reason Fayette County is such a great place to live is because of diligent officers like these?

1. The perp with dilated pupils admitted to being high on meth.
2. The "stange behavior" is enough articulable suspicion, especially at 2 am, to cause the officer to suspect wrong doing.
3. The perps admitted to casing places to hit. The tools in the car were going to be used to committ a felony.

Don't worry though, my cohorts and I will still be out there on a nightly basis protecting you and your family from innocent people like these. You're welcome by the way.

Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 6:33pm.

Where was the search warrant? Did Cheney issue it with the secret court?

Submitted by theguy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 7:46pm.

Dollar I think you are one of the countless victims of too much tv. Though I don't know all the facts of the case, I highly doubt that this was a case where a search warrant would be needed.

What I do know is this: The mopes that got arrested admitted to be casing locations to burglarize. One of them also admitted to being high on meth. Given this information, I would be willing to guess that they probably CONSENTED to a search of their vehicle. OR, the burglary tools could have been in the vehicle in plain view, which means that the police didn't need consent.

OR, the police could have arrested them for conspiracy to committ burglary after they admitted to casing places and they could have found the tools while conducting an inventory of their vehicle prior to impoundment.

I am not willing to second guess these officers because I wasn't there.

What you as a citizen need to realize is that if the evidence was improperly discovered, the court will toss it out. It is not your place to armchair quarterback.

We don't always need search warrants to search you, your home, or your car and we almost never read arrestees their rights upon arrest. WHY? Because the Supreme Court says we don't have to in most cases.

Quit watching cop shows - they almost always show you how NOT to do things - and for God sake, quit second guessing us. Fayette County agencies have some of the best police officers around. We don't have to violate your rights to make a valid arrest. Criminals are stupid and usually hang themselves.

Good Day Sir

Submitted by tonto707 on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 8:23pm.

words here are 'probable cause', and loitering behind a place of business at 2:20 A M in the morning is probable cause to a 'reasonable' person. That obviously excludes dollar.

Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 8:18pm.

You are just never going to get it!
Stopping, searching, etc., without reason is not legal. Looking suspicious is subjective.
All that other stuff may be illegal, but if you don't know about it ahead of time, that is also illegal.
It is to keep me and you from being harrassed all of the time by cops for no legal reason!

Submitted by theguy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:40pm.

As a police officer and as a reasonable person, I can articulate why I would stop and question a car load of men parking outside a closed business at 2 a.m. That is what the police are here for.

Suspicious is NOT subjective! If we can assume you are a reasonable person (I'm going out on a limb here), wouldn't you have to agree that a car load of men pulling into a closed business in the middle of the night IS suspicious? Would 12 reasonable people on a jury agree?

If we allowed every suspicious vehicle or person to just remain, the criminals would carry the county off. The police need 1 of 2 things to make a legal stop:

1. Probable cause - a reasonable belief that a crime has been committed

-OR-

2. Reasonable Suspicion - that a person has been, is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity based on specific and articulable facts and inferences. It is the basis for an investigatory or Terry (Terry v. Ohio) stop by the police and requires less evidence than probable cause, the legal requirement for arrests and warrants.

Reasonable suspicion is evaluated using the "reasonable person" or "reasonable officer" standard, in which said person in the same circumstances could reasonably believe a person has been, is, or is about to be, engaged in criminal activity; such suspicion is not a mere hunch.

Again, I would be able to easily articulate in court why I stopped these men for questioning.

Every time a police officer gets kudos on here you get on and try to find ways to second guess them. You, like every other citizen in this country, need the police. You don't like us or what we do because you don't understand us and because you are unwilling to listen or to reason.

The 4th Amendment protects us from "unreasonable" searches and seizures, but it does not guard against ALL searches and seizures. It has been dissected countless times by the Supreme and lower courts. While the police cannot arbitrarily enter your home, frisk you, or stop you there are times when searches are legal without a warrant.

I would like to suggest that you do some research on US Case Law, especially in the area of the 4th amendment and in regards to the police and search incident to arrest before you come on here opening your pie hole about things you know absolutely nothing about.

God help us if people like you ever gain any kind of power in this country!

Submitted by skyspy on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:46pm.

You are trying to explain common sense to dollar. You are beating your head against a stone wall.

I think bladder and dollar can't really be as stupid as they seem on here, they are putting us all on.

Submitted by INTHEKNOW07 on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:24pm.

Dollar, you have made it perfectly clear that you are a cop hater!! Here is a little more information for your ridiculous blog. Every single Judge in Fayette County has upheld repeatedly that being in the parking lot of a closed business at 2 am is in and of itself suspicious and more than enough probable cause to made an investigative stop. The officers did a fantastic job in this case and saved a business owner a great deal of grief and money, but hey it doesn't appear that you care about that. How about learning more about the practical application of the law before posting!!!

John Munford's picture
Submitted by John Munford on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 9:08pm.

There is another reason cops can search you without a warrant. If you're on probation in Fayette County, part of your probation is that any law enforcement officer (cop, sheriff, probation, etc) can search you AT ANY TIME for no reason WITHOUT a warrant.

Before you protest Dollar, you can always choose not to sign those conditions and enjoy your "three hots and a cot" at Randall's place instead.

I'm not sure if the same can be said for those on probation in other counties, and I can't say for sure any of these three arrested in this case were on probation at the time of the incident. I just know that's generally the way it's done here in Fayette County at Superior and State Courts, and I believe (but am not 100 percent positive) it's also done that way in the city courts.


Submitted by dollaradayandfound on Tue, 07/17/2007 - 7:09am.

I plan to stake out the Citizen, watching for you to come or go, late at night, and have you arrested for messing around!
Hope you aren't on probation!
My phone can be tapped also without a warrant, so go ahead,its Ok.
The Gestapo asked me for my "papers" yesterday.. I showed them a Sears credit card and they let me go.
As to the three hots and a cot, I don't mind that, but the 3000 watt light bulbs in my face are tough.
I already have nine guys ready and willing to recant their testimony about my guilt as soon as I reach the "death watch" at randalls 3 cots and a hot.
I suggest that some of the late night stakeouts be at the Pi-not, Ruby Fridays, Wyndshoulder, Big Paddys, or is it Joe's? Longtails might be fertile ground. DUIs kill people and ruin children.
You don't seem to be "positive" or "100% pure" about much of anything, but as long as I don't get you on my jury, I'll be happy!
Cops searching people on probation for no reason must be what I saw the other night! A guy was walking along and a cop grabbed him, straddled him, and searched him and let him go: then the cops sped around the corner, stripped the guy again, straddled him, searched him, and let him go, then the cops called the next county and had them start over since he was at the county line. Must have been the case.
These fellows who are threatening to find out home addresses from your web site and pay them (cop haters, I think they said) a visit....do you give them that information?
Do they let you ride in a police car and turn on the siren and lights and speed? I used to at 9.
If you censure or delete me, it is Ok. I'm tired of this bunch anyway for the most part!

Buckwheat Rules's picture
Submitted by Buckwheat Rules on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 1:52pm.

Awesome job! Fayetteville residents tip their cap to you sir. We are very fortunate to have people like you on our police force protecting us and our our families from some of the rif-raf that comes in from other surrounding counties.

A job well done! Eye-wink


Submitted by wheeljc on Mon, 07/16/2007 - 11:09am.

Way to Go Troops! Thanks for your diligence!

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