Friday's Internet Edition, November 21, 2008.
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Progress News Writer
- It wasn’t the usual theft, but when a burglar left Speedy’s Quik Stop on the intersection of South Bolton Street and Farm Road, his vehicle must have been smoking.
Even though it took Jacksonville police less than two minutes to get to the scene, the bandit was already gone, taking with him 45 cartons of cigarettes.
“Our glass-breakage detector had not been updated by our security company,” said Speedy’s store manager DeAnn Mewbourne, “but our motion detector was, so when the burglar entered the building, it only took one and one-half minutes for the police to get here.”
Unfortunately, that was just enough time for the burglar to scoop the cartons off the in-store display, drop them into the trash can he had taken from outside the store, and leave, well — speedily.
“There was glass all the way into the kitchen. He also got our change box, with about $200 in change,” Mewbourne said.
The store was burglarized during the night of May 18, and an investigation begun shortly thereafter. Through information received during the investigation, Cherokee County Detective Andy Huddleston discovered that a store in Smith County was selling the stolen cigarettes.
With the assistance of Smith County Sheriff investigators, a search and arrest warrant was requested and granted by Smith County Court-at-Law No. 2.
On May 31, 14 cartons of stolen cigarettes were seized at Antioch Country Store and the owner, Matthew Dutch Master, 37, of Bullard, arrested and charged with theft.
He was arraigned and bond set at $2,000 by Judge Randall Rogers, County Court-at-Law No. 2 in Smith County.
“It’s against the law to buy tobacco or alcohol if they don’t know where it came from,” Huddleston said, explaining that store owners or managers must keep strict records of purchases.
In addition, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Tommy Cornell Thomas, charging him with burglarizing Speedy’s convenience store and selling the stolen merchandise to Master.
The 30-year-old was arrested June 8, in Nacogdoches County for a burglary that had occurred earlier that morning in that county. Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Department took the suspect into custody with the help of Cherokee County Sheriff deputies, Lee Starling and Anna Outenreath.
At the same time, Thomas, of South Pineda Street in Jacksonville, was charged and arraigned on the warrant out of Cherokee County, with a $25,000 bond set for burglary of a building.
He remains in Nacogdoches County Jail on a $25,000 bond set in that case and will be transported to Cherokee County to face charges, pending a disposition of the case in Nacogdoches, according to the sheriff’s report.
Mary Beth Garmon can be reached via e-mail to mbgarmon@jacksonvilleprogress.com