According to police reports, at 1 a.m., on Thursday, Dec. 12, a black convertible stealthily pulled into a parking space at the Sumter Street Station apartment complex.
Two masked men dressed in black got out of the car and silently pulled on the door handles of every vehicle in the parking lot. They got into three vehicles — one was unlocked, and they busted the windows of two that were locked — and rummaged through the glove compartments and consoles.
Then, the two men slid back into the convertible and slowly drove out of the parking lot with all the car’s lights turned off.
Despite their sneakiness, one of the men was in jail by 2:30 p.m. the next day, and the Eatonton Police Department is actively seeking the other. Security camera footage from the apartment complex provided investigators with the above-detailed information, and Flock cameras helped identify and locate the arrested man.
“Flock cameras helped a lot, made all the difference,” Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell said. “All we had to do was put in a description of the car and timeframe, and in four minutes, we had the tag number and where the car went.
“I am so appreciative to the mayor and city council members for agreeing to put up the Flock cameras,” he added. “And I want to recognize what a great job Detective Hargrove Jones did following up on all the evidence so quickly.”
Jones said the car’s license plate number revealed the Chevrolet Camaro was registered to a woman with a Milledgeville address.
While traveling there with Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office deputies to talk with the woman, Jones recognized the Camaro parked at the Super Inn on North Columbia Street. Jones explained the car was easy to recognize because it had body damage on the driver’s side.
Jones talked to the woman and her boyfriend separately. After noticing several of their statements did not coincide with the facts provided by security video and Flock cameras, Jones said he confronted them about their inconsistencies. So, the boyfriend, Stephen Mariani, told Jones his girlfriend had nothing to do with the crime and that he was willing to talk and tell the truth.
After being taken to the Eatonton Police Department, Mariani reportedly said that he and two other men had planned to go out and try breaking into cars to find some cash or anything else of value.
“Mariani said that before coming into Eatonton, they tried breaking into cars in the Greensboro area but had no luck finding anything, so they came to Eatonton,” Jones said.
Mariani said he was the passenger in the Camaro, and the driver had broken the windows of the locked cars. Cardwell said Mariani provided the driver's name, which is currently being withheld until officers find and talk to him.
The crime was first reported by the owners of the vehicles — a Chevrolet Tahoe, a Dodge Challenger, and a Honda Accord — around 8 a.m. on Dec. 12, when they discovered their cars had been rummaged or broken into. They called the Eatonton Police Department.
Officer Dillon Waldroup responded, took their statements, and notified Cardwell and Jones.