burglaries recovered

By MICHELLE WILSON

Staff Writer

Dec. 22, 199 11 PM

The Pike County Sheriff’s Department continues to investigate a string of thefts which they believe occurred through in the early morning of Dec. 13 along U.S. Highway 231 near the Montgomery County line.

At about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas said members of the Montgomery Police Department found a truck at West Jefferson Davis Drive in Montgomery. Authorities believe it is the same truck that was taken Dec. 13. Missing from the truck were lighters, a battery and keys.

No other property has been recovered from a string of incidences that night reported in Pike and Montgomery counties.

According to sheriff’s reports, one or more suspects broke into Ed’s Barbecue, which is about three miles south of the Montgomery County line, stealing an estimated 12 cases of beer on Dec. 13. Entry was gained by breaking the front glass.

In the parking lot of the restaurant, sheriff’s deputies found two vehicles – one that had been sitting at the store and a van that had been reported stolen from the Elk’s Lodge on Rosa Parks Avenue on the west side of Montgomery. Sitting beside the two vehicles were two car batteries that Thomas said were taken from a nearby residence, probably in an attempt to crank the car that had been in the parking lot with a dead battery.

Thomas believes the suspect or suspects had trouble at Ed’s Barbecue operating the stolen van and decided to steal the car in the parking lot with a set of keys they found inside the store. When the keys failed to crank the vehicle, the culprit attempted to steal a different car from the drive way of a local residence.

"At the home just a little bit away there was a car that someone had tried to steal," Thomas said. "The steering column was damaged and the car was not drivable."

Upon failing to secure the car, the suspect or suspects went back to the van with a can that contained diesel and two car batteries from the home near by.

Thomas suspects the party also took a go-cart from the home and stole tools.

He said he believes the person or persons tried to find another vehicle, which resulted in the theft of a white 1994 Ford F-150 pickup that was stacked with painting equipment including ladders, a ladder rack, air compressors and high-powered painting equipment.

The suspect made a stop at a store in Pine Level en route to Montgomery. None of the things taken at the store were at the barbecue restaurant

Thomas said the burglaries are under the investigation with the cooperation of the Montgomery Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department and the Pike County Sheriff’s Department.