An unidentified man attempted to break into a house in which some teens were home alone, but the family’s dogs scared him off.
A short time later, an arrest was made across the street on charges unrelated to the attempted break-in, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills.
“The home’s Ring camera was inactive so we can’t prove it was him attempting to enter the house, but we highly suspect it was him due to the proximity of where he was,” Sills explained. “But if we could prove it, the most we could charge him with would be loitering and prowling, which is a minor charge compared to all the others we charged him with.”
The unidentified prowler attempted to press numbers on a keypad lock of a residence on East Riverbend Drive where some older youth were home alone around 10:30 p.m. March 26, Sills said. The two dogs broke out of their kennel and chased the man back to his vehicle. The teens notified a neighbor, who drove around and noticed an SUV parked across the road in front of the next house.
The neighbor called 911.
“Deputy Mark Adams did a good job on this case,” Sills noted.
Adams walked up to the black Toyota 4Runner and saw the driver slumped over, apparently asleep, Sills said. Adams tapped on the window and woke up the driver. While questioning him, the man, later identified as Richard Brian Barber, was confused and disoriented.
“Barber said that he thought he was in Roberta in Crawford County, which is a long way from Lake Oconee,” Sills said.
Barber’s identification card reportedly had the address of the state prison in Forsyth, so the deputy knew he was a convict, Sills said.
Meanwhile, Adams noticed the handle of a pistol sticking out of Barber’s pocket, so he confiscated it and asked Barber if he had any other weapons on him. Barber said no, but Adams found another pistol on him.
“Both guns, a .380 and 9mm pistols, were stolen, and he also had meth on him,” Sills said. “And he was highly intoxicated on something, but we don’t know what it was.”
Barber has “an extensive criminal history,” Sills said, “This was his 33rd time to be arrested and he’s had six prior felony convictions, so obviously he’s being held without bond,” Sills said.
Barber, 45, of Gordon Highway, Milledgeville, is in Putnam County jail facing charges of possession of a firearm during an attempt to commit a crime, possession of methamphetamine, two counts of receipt or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, driving while license suspended or revoked, and unlawful for jail inmate to possess any controlled substance.