Heather L. Finley

Charges keep piling up for two men recently arrested for entering autos, but that hasn’t deterred other burglars in the area.

Christopher Kyle Stripling, 18, and Jessie Cameron Strickland Jr., 19, both of Carrollton, were arrested July 16 for a string of car break-ins that lasted from May until the week of their arrests. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office made the arrests and charged the men with five counts each of entering an auto. The Carrollton Police Department quickly followed with another five entering auto charges for both.

And the investigation did not end there.

Capt. Shane Taylor with the sheriff’s office said investigators have continued the investigation into similar crimes that occurred within the same time frame and have recovered several more items taken from vehicles. Four laptop computers, two digital cameras, two iPods and another global positioning system were among the new items recovered and fall under the same lines as the items recovered from other thefts.

To date, Strickland’s charges include one count of theft by deception and violating probation and 12 counts of entering an auto. Stripling is still charged with 10 counts of entering an auto but has had theft by receiving stolen property (involving a firearm) and violating probation added to his charges. Taylor said Strickland was on probation for a misdemeanor drug charge, and Stripling was on probation for obstruction of an officer at the time of their arrests.

Both men remain in the county jail, while the investigation continues.

Two other Carroll County men, Ruben Morgan, 38, of Carrollton and Rodney Jennings, 25, of Bowdon were arrested on July 16 by deputies for suspected involvement in a Bowdon burglary. Taylor said a Bowdon man who lives on Lovvorn Mill Road reported two burglaries from his yard and tool shed on two different days in early July.

On the first day, the man reported plows and other metal equipment stolen. A few days later, the same resident reported that his shed had been broken into and another group of items removed.

“Some of the more important things to this man were some 100-year-old blacksmith tools that his father had back when he was a boy,” Taylor said.

Investigators checked with State Line Metals Recycling, the only metal recycling center in Carrollton, to see if the stolen items had showed up. Taylor said investigators were able to trace the Bowdon man’s items to the recycling center, but they had already been destroyed.

“We do that quite often when we have metal items stolen,” Taylor said. “A lot of times it pays off. Sometimes it doesn’t.”

Taylor said the recycling center keeps track of what property is brought in and uses surveillance video.

Taylor said Morgan and Jennings were released on bond. He added that investigators are looking into several other burglaries that occurred near the Lovvorn Mill Road residence. Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office or Deputy Shane Spradlin at 770-830-5916.