Two arrests have been made in the rash of burglaries and car break-ins in the Redwine Road area of south Fayette County that began in December.
Fayette County Sheriff’s investigators on March 25 arrested two high school students, ages 16 and 17, who live in the Redwine Road area and committed the crimes either on foot or using a golf cart to avoid security gates protecting one posh subdivision.
Ross A. Smith, 17, of Tarragon Drive, was charged with eight counts of burglary, six counts of entering auto and one count of second degree criminal damage to property, according to arrest records.
Also arrested was a 16-year-old male charged with seven counts of burglary and six counts of entering auto, according to Sheriff Barry Babb.
Both Smith and the 16-year-old live in the Redwine Road area and both attend Heritage Christian School in east Coweta County, investigators said.
Babb said over the course of several months starting in December 2013, sheriff’s detectives were investigating several entering auto cases and burglaries that were occurring in the Whitewater, Highgrove and Timberlake subdivisions near Redwine Road and Peachtree Parkway.
“The perpetrators’ modus operandi was to enter unlocked cars and home garages to steal items like money, firearms and personal electronics,” said Babb. “Operating at night, deputies believed they were on foot or on a golf cart as some of the roadway gates did not seem to deter them.”
Babb said detectives in early March pursued a lead which helped identify one of the perpetrators.
“After one of the perpetrators was identified, detectives were able to connect several of the crimes to Smith and the 16-year-old male,” said Babb.
Smith was arrested March 25 and transported to the Fayette County Jail. The juvenile was transported to the Clayton County Juvenile Detention Center.
Babb said the investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information on the case is asked to call Det. Ussery at 770-716-4748.
