Joint investigation leads to multiple arrests in rash of car burglaries across Webster and Grenada counties

EUPORA, Miss. (WCBI) – On September 21, five suspects were arrested in connection with a rash of car burglaries spanning across Webster and Grenada counties, as well as the city of Eupora.

On September 18th, Webster County Sheriff David Gore says three guns and some other items were stolen during five burglaries on the north end of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

“Two vehicles, working in tandem and when they pulled up to a place they jumped out,” he says. “Check door handles and do whatever they were going to do and they were back in the vehicle in short order.”

The sheriff says the suspects were organized and all the thefts involved unlocked cars.

“They checked every vehicle pretty much when they got out,” he says. “We got fingerprints from vehicles that were locked and couldn’t be opened and they weren’t broken into.”

It wasn’t just fingerprints that suspects left at the scene. Sheriff Gore says they found a stolen car with a Grenada County license plate that had been abandoned along Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

“What we think is, they left that vehicle and stole another one to change the appearance of the vehicle,” he explained. 

That led to the joint investigation with the Grenada County Sheriff’s Department.

“Grenada had quite a few more of the same type burglaries with the same MO,” Sheriff Gore says. 

Eupora Police acquired the surveillance video of thefts in the city limits.

“You could not identify individuals, but you could tell the vehicles were the same vehicles,” the sheriff says. 

The joint investigation led to the arrest of four juveniles and a 19-year-old in Grenada County suspected of close to 15 burglaries across the three jurisdictions.

“I can’t say that they wouldn’t have been apprehended but it certainly made things a lot better,” Sheriff Gore says. “Because we shared information and we worked together toward a common goal and that was catching the people that were committing the crime.”

Because so many of the suspects are juveniles, Sheriff Gore says they are waiting to release their exact charges. He says this is an ongoing investigation and that there may be other suspects involved.

In addition to the arrests, Sheriff Gore says they recovered the car and guns stolen in Webster County.