Putnam County Sheriff’s Office literally dug up some evidence last week when they used a county backhoe to excavate a stolen box truck. Three Putnam County people have been arrested and a third Baldwin County man is being sought by the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office in connection with the theft.
Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said he received a call from the Baldwin Sheriff’s Office Friday afternoon, July 29, regarding a 2007 Isuzu box truck that was stolen from C&R Cabinet Shop on North Columbia Street in Milledgeville. The cabinet shop was destroyed by fire on June 27. The truck was stolen two days later, and the truck theft is not connected to the cause of the fire, Sills said.
Baldwin Sheriff’s Detective Maj. Brad King said he and Detective Chris Youngblood had received information that the truck might be at a location in Putnam County.
“So, we called the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, and they went to that area and located the truck,” King said.
The location was in the Murder Creek area of Putnam County, off of the Gray Highway, Sills said. The Sheriff, Detective Chris Harper, Detective Lt. Harry Luke, and deputies Chris Donovan and Alfred Flores went to the residence, where they reportedly walked around to the back yard. There they saw what Sills described as a new metal shop-type building.
“All the doors were open and I was walking around in there when Harper told me to come behind the building; there was fresh dirt and a small backhoe back there,” Sills said.
About three feet of the ground next to the building was not covered with dirt, Sills said, “and we could see what looked like some sort of room or something underneath that metal building,” he added. Upon closer inspection, the investigating lawmen realized it was the top of a truck body.
Sills immediately called for a county backhoe to be brought to the property to excavate the truck. It turned out to be only the box portion of the truck, it had been removed from the truck, Sills said. The truck body was custom-made to carry cabinetry, so Sills said it was taller than the typical work box truck.
“They obviously had buried it,” Sills said. “A 20-foot by 8-foot by 10-foot truck doesn’t just fall in your yard and it sure as hell doesn’t just get buried behind your shop. Plus, all the tools don’t just appear inside your shop,” he added.
The cabinet shop owner was called to the scene and he identified many of the items that were inside of the truck when it was stolen, Sills said.
“And they had the tag of the truck prominently displayed on a workbench inside the shop building,” Sills said. “That is just hoodlum arrogance.”
After digging up the truck, Sills and his deputies used a battering ram to enter the residence because no one would answer the door. He said he had already obtained a search warrant. Upon entering, they saw what appeared to be a bedroom door with a deadbolt lock on it. So, they used the battering ram to open that door, also.
Sills said he was the first one to go through the open door.
“And there was a man and woman laying in bed watching us on a TV,” he said. “They had surveillance cameras all over the property, and they had been watching us the entire time.”
The couple on the bed and a third man who had been parked in a car on the property were all arrested:
• Lindsay Jo White, 35, of Sparrow Way, Eatonton, was charged with possession of Schedule 1 Controlled Substance;
• Douglas Paul Sikes, 61, of Sparrow Way, Eatonton, was charged with theft by receiving stolen property;
• Bryan Lee Banner, 42, also of the same address, was charged with possession of Schedule 3 Substance, possession of Testosterone Cypionate, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, possession of methamphetamine, possession of firearm or knife during commission of crime, possession of firearm by convicted felon, unlawful possession of firearm or weapon, and parole violation.
Another man is still being sought by Baldwin authorities for the theft of the truck. He is Christopher Rehwald, 34, whose last known residence was on Sinclair Marina Road in Milledgeville, according to King.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Rehwald or the 2007 Isuzu truck cab is asked to call the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office at 706-485-8557 or the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office at 478-445-5102.