Several Georgia residents are under arrest after police followed a trail of candy wrappers to smash a burglary ring.
Police said a series of break-ins in homes and cars took place in Coweta County between Oct. 4 and 7, according to The Newman Times-Herald.
“The offenders were burglarizing homes and entering autos in an area close by to where they lived,” said Sgt. Toby Nix, public information officer for the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office.
The critical clue in cracking the case came from a man who said he was robbed of clothes, guns, ammunition and a chainsaw.
The thieves’ downfall was not those items, but a bag of Milky Way candy bars in the victim’s refrigerator.
Sweet tooth and trail of candy wrappers lead to arrest of burglary suspect. Coweta County investigators say Gerald Bennett is part of a ring breaking into homes and autos. Couldn’t resist taking the candy and throwing down the wrappers as he headed home #milkyway @FOX5Atlanta pic.twitter.com/RhWJC21nkC
— Doug Evans (@dougevansfox5) October 25, 2022
“During our walk on trails through the woods, he was able to point out some of the wrappers,” investigator Christian Spinks said, according to WSB-TV.
“And when he found one wrapper, we were able to walk a little bit further and find another wrapper. And so on and so forth. And it just formed a trail, and it showed us exactly where the individuals had walked,”
The trail of wrappers led investigators to multiple locations.
“These individuals lived nearby to all the locations in which they were committing the thefts. And what they were doing was using trails throughout the woods to transport the items from one place to another,” Spinks said, according to WAGA-TV.
“Furthermore, they were actually using the woods to conceal the stolen property, hiding it in the woods, burying it under the leaves,” Spinks said.
The Heard County Sheriff’s Office recovered a gun stolen in one burglary.
Gerald Bennett, Ryan Murrow, Amber Brooks, Kevin Atkins, Alan Caswell, Brooke Fields, Tracy Hendrix, Marvin Rachalla and a juvenile were arrested, according to the Times-Herald.
Bennett and Caswell face charges of burglary and theft by taking. Rachalla was charged with theft by receiving stolen property.
Brooks faces a charge of obstruction of officers. Caswell, Murrow, Fields, Atkins and Hendrix were hit with drug-related charges. Hendrix was also charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
