Charges are pending against a Jones County man in a joint investigation by the Jones and Putnam County Sheriff’s Departments concerning several thousands of dollars of stolen goods. Sheriff Butch Reece said items seized from the residence of Joey Jason Arnett April 2 are believed to have been stolen from Jones, Putnam, Bibb and Baldwin counties. Reece said one of the items was stolen from the Macon Fire Department, and two boat motors have been identified as being taken from Baldwin County.
Reece said rifles and other items have been found with altered identification numbers, which is a crime in itself.
The items are being held at the Jones County Law Enforcement Center and number in the hundreds. Nine four-wheelers and a boat loaded with gas cans are in a holding area, fishing boats are in the parking lot, and a large room in the sheriff’s multi-use building is filled with items found at Arnett’s residence.
Reece said one of the boat motors was found on a shelf in a closet of Arnett’s house.
Department of Natural Resources Rangers Chad Welch and Lynn Stanford Jr. were conducting a late patrol of Lake Sinclair in the early morning hours this past Sunday and noticed a boat not normally in the area, according to the sheriff. When they checked the vessel, they found bolt cutters on board.
The bolt cutters created suspicion, and the rangers obtained the identity of the driver of the boat and contacted the Jones and Putnam County Sheriff’s Departments. Jones County officers went to Arnett’s residence on Upper River Road and found several items with serial numbers but could not identify the items as stolen because the Georgia Crime Information Center computer was down.
The numbers were run Monday morning, and, when the items were identified as stolen, Jones County deputies returned to the residence accompanied by Sheriff Howard Sills and officers from Putnam County.
“We found boats, boat motors, rifles, fishing equipment, deer stands, power tools, four-wheelers and just about anything else you can think of,” Reece said. “Now comes the big job of trying to trace down the owners.”
Reece said it will take several days to tag the items, and after that is done, the public will be invited to look for anything that has been stolen from them.
“We ask that they bring the incident report of the stolen items and let us know of any distinguishing marks,” he explained.
Reece said several boat houses on Lake Sinclair have been broken into, and he complimented Welch and Stanford for their additional effort that led to Arnett.
“The investigation is in its early stages. I don’t think he could move all this stuff by himself,” the sheriff commented. “Sheriff Sills said he has done a lot of fishing, but he never needed bolt cutters.”
