U-R update

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — A Macon man has been arrested in connection with several convenience store break-ins in Wilkinson County, as well as one that happened earlier this week in Baldwin County.

Authorities said at least three other men are being sought for the crimes, including one whom lawmen have identified. Warrants have been issued in both counties for his arrest.

The intruders, who used a pry bar to enter the front door of the BP store on Roberson Mill Road in Baldwin County, stole an undisclosed amount of cash as well as assorted lottery tickets, cigarettes and candies.

Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office Detective Greg See identified the suspect in the Milledgeville case as Demetrius Bernard Davis. See said Davis was taken into custody without incident at his residence Thursday afternoon.

Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division Investigator Rod Chatman earlier in the day had issued an arrest warrant for Davis, according to See. Later in the afternoon, members of the Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force went to Davis’ residence and took him into custody.

See said Davis, who is being held in the Wilkinson County Law Enforcement Center, was arrested and charged with the burglary of the local BP store.

Davis was charged with one count of burglary in the second degree stemming from the local store break-in, See said. Davis has also been charged with similar offenses in Wilkinson County.

The investigation has also revealed information as to the identity of a second suspect, Terrance Dernard Johnson, of an Atlanta area address, according to See.

The break-in at the Baldwin County store was discovered shortly after 6 a.m. Tuesday.

A store clerk noticed when she was about to open the front doors of the store that the doors were unlocked, according to the incident report filed by Gillis.

When the clerk walked into the store and behind the counter she discovered several packs of cigarettes scattered all over the floor. The clerk also reported that two cash registers had been broken into and cash inside the drawers missing. Some lose money was also seen lying nearby on the floor.

Video surveillance at the BP store in Milledgeville shows four men, each of them with their heads and faces covered, See said.

After committing that break-in, the men are believed to have driven a rental vehicle to Wilkinson County where similar crimes occurred.

An attempted break-in of a Jet Food Store in Gordon later that day led to a manhunt for the four suspects, who managed somehow to get away from officers with the Gordon Police Department and deputies and investigators with the Wilkinson County Sheriff’s Office.