SUPERIOR COURT
One of the men responsible for burglarizing dozens of vehicles in Gray is on his way to prison to serve the first five years of a 30-year sentence for his crimes.
Landon Tyler Stafford entered a guilty plea Oct. 12 in Jones County Superior Court. He received five years each for one count of burglary in the second degree and 25 counts of entering an automobile. He was also sentenced to three years each for 10 counts of financial card theft.
The first six counts were ordered to run consecutively but concurrently with all other counts for a total sentence of 30 years. Stafford will receive credit for time served in custody from his Feb. 3 arrest.
After the first five years are served in confinement, the remainder of the sentence is to be served on probation.
A report of the crime that occurred Feb. 1 by Gray Police Department Officer Brad James states he was dispatched to a residence on Brookwood Drive at 3:30 a.m. in reference to entering autos. He said he was advised that three males dressed all in black were going through the complainant’s vehicles.
James said he made contact with the complainant and was told the suspects were chased to the backyard and into a wooded area.
GPD Officer Paul Hathaway also responded. He reported that he checked the backyard, wooded area and outbuildings but had negative contact. James said he joined the search and found a camouflage hunting bow and black backpack with a purse and other items in the driveway of a nearby house.
He said he returned to the complainant, and she told him a change purse and two debit cards were missing from the van. She said nothing appeared to be missing from her husband’s truck.
The officer said the purse he found with the backpack had identification in it from a residence on Pinewood. He said during that same time, he received a call from dispatch that the debit cards stolen out of the van were being used at a Texaco. James said he had negative contact with anyone at the station in Gray.
The officer said, when talking to another victim in the neighborhood, he found who the bow belonged to and was able to return it. He said he also returned the purse to its owner.
James said windows were busted out of several other vehicles in the neighborhood but nothing else was reported stolen.
A post on the Gray Police Department Facebook page stated it was believed the suspects were from the Albany area and are suspected in similar crimes in three other Georgia counties.
A follow up post stated that GPD investigators identified two of the suspects and multiple warrants have been issued for their arrests.
Stafford and Mihenique Izell Parks were indicted by a Jones County Grand Jury April 11 for 25 charges of entering automobiles, two burglary charges and 10 charges for financial transaction card theft in connection with the events of Feb. 1.
