An eventful morning began at 6 a.m. March 12 for Jones County and Gray law enforcement officers and residents who had their vehicles rummaged through, and one stolen, by juveniles who appeared to make bad decisions and have a poor sense of direction.
The incident involved four juveniles who are now facing multiple charges and caused the lock down of several Jones County Schools.
The youths were ages 13 to 16 and were reportedly missing from the Georgia Industrial Children’s Home in Bibb County.
Jones County Sheriff’s Department Investigator John Simmons said a call was received the morning of March 12 about a stolen vehicle from Bibb County. He said the first entering autos report in Jones County was a heads up at 6 a.m. from JCSO Sgt. John Humphries, who was on patrol and after that the calls kept coming.
The car stolen from Bibb County was found by JCSO deputy Jarrod Elrod at the entrance of Crestview Subdivision with its right front tire blown out.
Complaints of entering autos started in the Crestview Woods neighborhood, where a truck was stolen. Simmons said Humphries was dispatched to Rancher’s, where the stolen truck was filled up with gas using a stolen credit card and the attached trailer apparently dropped and left.
“They put $78 of gasoline in the diesel truck and broke down at the intersection of the bypass and Highway 11,” the investigator said.
On foot again, the juveniles made their way to Gray, entering autos in neighborhoods they passed and following the railroad tracks. Simmons said, when they got into the city, the juveniles went into the building that houses the Jones County High School IT Department in possession of a pistol they took from one of the vehicles they searched on the way.
Gray Police Chief Adam Lowe said Officer Josh Josey received a call at 7:28 a.m. to make contact with a complainant on Atlanta Road concerning entering autos in the city. He said there was also a call about a book bag being on fire on the side of the road on Greene Boulevard.
Lowe said at 7:50 a.m., JCSO School Resource Officer Boisey Hunt was informed there were four juveniles at the bus fuel depot wanting a ride to Albany. Hunt then broadcast the location of the juveniles.
“It happened during our shift change, so there was an abundance of officers from both departments,” he said.
The chief said in addition to the county charges, the juveniles were charged with seven counts of entering autos in the city.
“We’ll probably never know where they were going,” he said.
Simmons said the juveniles fled when they saw officers but were quicky apprehended. The investigator said one juvenile was caught in the IT parking lot, one behind the building near the railroad track and two were nabbed by him and Capt. Kenny Allen in the pecan orchard by the Mormon Church.
Jones County Sheriff Butch Reece announced the multiple entering autos reports, stolen firearm and the search for and apprehension of the juveniles in a March 12 Facebook post. He stated “the schools in the area were placed on lockdown, as both law enforcement and school officials are trained to do in this type of situation. Once the juveniles were detained, the schools resumed normal operations.”
Lowe said they have done a lot of lock down drills with the schools.
Reece said the stolen firearm was located by officers and deputies behind the pre-K.
“As always, the safety of our schools and students is of the upmost importance. In this case, law enforcement and school officials responded quickly, detained all the suspects and recovered the firearm and other evidence.”
Reece and Lowe praised all involved in the swift apprehension of the offenders and recovery of the firearm.
“Great job by all our deputies and City of Gray Police Officers for their quick response and apprehension of these suspects,” the sheriff said.
Simmons said the juveniles were being detained in Regional Youth Detention Centers and would be brought back to Jones County to face their charges that include 19 entering auto charges in the county and seven in the city.
One interesting side note to the crimes is that none of the cars entered by the juveniles were locked, including the one from which the firearm was stolen.
