>> CRIME WATCH
Three men reportedly stole an ATM from Robins Federal Credit Union in Milledgeville and were in jail within minutes of the theft thanks to Milledgeville Police Department officers, Baldwin Sheriff’s deputies and a Putnam County Sheriff’s K9 officer and handler.
Shortly before 5:30 a.m. Saturday, Milledgeville Police Department was notified that a Robins Financial Credit Union’s ATM had multiple alarms sounding, according to police reports. Also, witnesses called 911 and said they saw three men trying to steal the ATM. The witness said the men were in a white Ford 250 with a Georgia license plate, which they attached with chains to the ATM and pulled it from its base to the Murphy USA parking lot at 2584 North Columbia Street.
Milledgeville Police Department’s Major Linc Boyer was the first to arrive at the credit union where he reportedly saw three men running away from him behind Murphy USA heading south through the woods. Boyer chased one of the men and captured the 23-year-old on a steep hill and placed him in handcuffs. The other two men reportedly escaped, carrying a black box from the ATM, so Boyer called Putnam County Sheriff’s Office for assistance from the K9 officer.
Meanwhile, MPD Officer L. Aultman noticed the Ford 250 with chains on the back and the ATM behind the truck.
“The front of the ATM was torn off, exposing the inside where the money was located,” Aultman wrote in his report of the incident Aultman transported the captured suspect, identified as Deonte John Living, to Baldwin County Law Enforcement Center and returned to the scene.
All responding law enforcement officers had set up a perimeter around the area and Putnam County Sheriff’s K9 Nix and his handler, Deputy Chris Donovan, were tracking the other two suspects, according to a report by MPD Officer Raymond Borders. Nix reportedly caught the second suspect, identified as Jamyrick Woods, in the creek behind Arby’s; and he found the third man, Jacoby Arceneaux, hiding underneath a vehicle parked near the Days Inn motel.
“Donovan did some good work in Milledgeville this weekend; I’m proud of them,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Monday.
The sheriff said Major Boyer sent him a text message thanking him. “We called your office for assistance and (Donovan and K9 Nix came) and within about 20 minutes, we had both the other suspects in custody as a result of the K9! Just wanted to tell you what an awesome job they did and, as always, I appreciate y’all’s help more than you know,” Boyer said in the text message. The black box was found by officers on the other side of a wooden fence behind Volume Hyundai’s maintenance shop, and Woods had a stack of $20 bills in his pocket, totaling $520, according to the incident reports.
Deonte John Living, 22, and Jacoby Arcenezus, 21, both of Carencro, Louisiana, and Jamyick Weston Woods, 21, of Katy, Texas, are all facing charges of theft by taking a motor vehicle, theft by taking of an ATM, possession of tools during the commission of a crime, criminal damage to property, and obstruction of a law enforcement officer.