An Albany man recently entered a guilty plea in Jones County Superior Court for crimes committed in February of 2023 in a quiet neighborhood in the City of Gray.
Mahenique Izell Parks, 27, entered his guilty plea Sept. 17. He received a total sentence of 25 years with the first three years served in confinement. The charges included two counts of burglary in the second degree, 25 counts entering autos and 10 counts of financial transaction card fraud.
According to the plea agreement, after service of three years, the remainder of the sentence may be served on probation. Parks received credit for time served Oct. 26, 2023, to Sept. 17, 2026.
Parks was indicted on the charges April 11, 2023, by a Jones County Grand Jury with Landon Tyler Stafford. Also from Albany, Stafford entered a guilty plea Oct. 12, 2023, and received a total sentence of 30 years with the first five years to serve.
The call reporting the crimes was received Feb. 1, 2023, at 3:30 a.m.
The complainant reported that three Black males all dressed in black had been seen going through vehicles. The items reported taken in the crimes included purses, backpacks and firearms.
Stafford was arrested by the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task force two weeks after the Gray burglaries and transported to the Jones County Law Enforcement Center. Both men were thought to be part of a theft ring that had been hitting areas in South Georgia and even reaching into Alabama.
Warrants were taken out for Parks following Stafford’s arrest.
A News article about the crimes stated the thefts were discovered as the result of a normally quiet dog who alerted its owner. The complainant said it was 3:30 a.m. when she looked outside because her dog would not stop barking. Reports of the break-ins were received by GPD on the streets of Brookwood, Pinewood and Cedarwood in Gray.
The complainant reported seeing three, maybe four men all dressed in black, going through her van and her husband’s truck. The homeowner started yelling at the men, and her husband gave chase but lost them in the woods.
Items stolen from the vehicles included purses, credit cards and firearms. During their investigation immediately following the break-ins, Gray Police Officers found some items discarded by the suspects, which were returned to the owners. They were unable to make contact with the offenders.
