Police Arrest Suspects, Worry About Guns, in Car Ripoffs

By Charles Molineaux | For The Record 

MADISON – Police thanked investigators from the City of Huntsville for helping track down two suspects for a rash of car burglaries with a “disturbing” component, gun theft along with the burglaries.

On the night of June 9, Madison investigator Terrell Cook reports that a group of burglars worked their way through the Kensington Estates and Ashley Green subdivisions stealing from cars.  “They were going form car to car,” Cook explained, “door to door, down the street on foot ducking in the shadows, and they were removing things of value from people’s cars.”

According to police, the following day police in Huntsville discovered some of that stolen property during an unrelated investigation and contacted burglary victims. “They said, ‘Hey, were you aware your items were in the possession of these other people?’” Cook said.  “Then we were able to connect the dots.”

Police arrested two juveniles from Huntsville, 14 and 16.  Each is charged with ten counts of Breaking and Entering an Automobile and eight counts of Theft of Property.  The suspects were taken to the Robert Neves Davis Detention Center.

A press release said more arrests were possible and that investigators suspected there were at least four more people involved.

Among the assorted stolen electronics, Cook said at least one gun was stolen from a car, which he said reinforcing the importance of locking parked cars and moving valuables out of them at night.

“Please, we need folks to be more responsible overnight,” he continued.  “Luckily we were able to recover the gun.  These kids are 14 and 16.  They don’t need to be carrying a gun.  There’s no telling who they were going sell it to, trade it to or give it to an older brother, possibly, who has a criminal record, we don’t know.”

Cook said thefts by non-residents have become a common threat in the city.  “Madison gets picked on a lot,” he said, “The last group of car burglars we caught off County Line Road was from Decatur. They just decided to come over to Madison and pick on one of our neighborhoods.

Charles Molineaux is an anchor and investigative reporter with WAFF 48 News