The owner

of a Fayetteville pawn shop was acquitted Tuesday of

theft by receiving in connection with goods taken from a

Peachtree City home during a burglary.

A detective

with the Peachtree City Police Department testified that

a shotgun and a Browning rifle were stolen in July of

1998, and after arrests were made, it was found out that

the guns had been sold to Mac Donald Sutton, owner of

Sunnyside Pawn Shop. Sutton is not licensed to sell

firearms.

Going

undercover into the pawn shop, the detective, posing as

the brother of one of the burglars, told Sutton that the

weapons were taken from a family friend and no charges

would be filed if they were returned. Sutton said that he

did not have the guns but could possibly get hold of them

for him, the detective said.

The next

day, the detectived called Sutton and was told to come

get the guns. He did, and Sutton was arrested later that

day.

Prosecutors

played audio tapes of the conversations between Sutton

and the detective, who wore a wire both times in the

store and recorded his phone call with Sutton.

The pawn

shop owner testified that he did not know the guns were

stolen when he bought them, and he only bought them to

sell to someone else, with the entire transaction taking

place outside his store, which is legal. He said that as

soon as he heard the guns were stolen, he paid out of his

own pocket to retrieve them, and he still has not

recovered that money.

The case

boiled down to who the jury would believe. Prosecutors

painted a picture of Sutton lying whenever necessary

because he got caught, while defense attorney Paul Liston

argued that Sutton did the right thing when he found out

the truth and was no more a liar than the police who set

him up.

In an

unrelated trial Tuesday, Jason McCall was convicted of

terroristic threats and acts for an incident at his

former girlfriend's home in Fayetteville last December.

He was given five years to serve.

Prosecutors

alleged that McCall stole money from the woman's purse,

which he returned the next day when she confronted him.

The couple lived together for five years and has a set of

twins.

McCall, who

was intoxicated when he visited her house the next day,

chased her through the house and threatened to kill her,

prosecutors said. Her roommate called police.

Defense

attorney Patricia Buttaro told the jury that the incident

in question was an isolated one, as the couple still

communicates regularly and McCall sees his children and

helps support them. She said that the alleged victim did

not wish to press charges and even failed to show for an

earlier hearing because she did not want to pursue the

matter.

McCall

testified that he was too drunk to remember everything

that happened.