A 17-year-old and a 13-year-old are accused of stealing two vehicles and taking them on joyrides last week, according to law enforcement reports.
Nicholas Jesus Laguna, 17, of Glenwood Springs Road, was arrested May 30 on charges including felony second-degree burglary, two felony counts of criminal damage to property in the second degree, felony theft by taking a motor vehicle, misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and two counts of entering an automobile with intent to commit a theft, according to Putnam County Jail records.
His alleged accomplice, a 13-year-old whose name is being withheld due to age, is charged with party to the crime of burglary and theft, according to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills. The juvenile was released to his parents’ custody and will face charges in juvenile court, Eatonton Police Chief Howell Cardwell said.
The incidents began around 2 a.m. May 27, when Eatonton Police received a report that a 2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz had been stolen from a home in the 200 block of Loblolly Drive.
“A couple of hours later, we received a call at another Loblolly residence in reference to two cars that had been broken into and, out of one vehicle, a brown Coach handbag was missing,” Cardwell said.
Around 4 a.m., police were called after a vehicle was driven through a fence at the Putnam County Recreation Department, where it was reportedly driven onto the ball field and used to do donuts.
“After viewing the cameras at the rec department, we saw it was the same vehicle that was stolen,” Cardwell said.
While Eatonton police investigated that incident, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office received a similar report on May 30. A resident on Glenwood Springs Road reported that someone had broken into a garage/shop behind his home and stolen a 2020 Can-Am Defender side-by-side UTV valued at about $25,000.
“They stole the UTV,” Sills said. “They then went and picked up his two sisters, who were also juveniles, and went on a joy ride. They ended up at Fiesta Hall on Monticello Road, where they did donuts and crashed the vehicle.”
A friend transported the three juveniles to Putnam General Hospital for treatment of injuries sustained in the crash, Sills said. Hospital staff notified Eatonton police.
“So, after learning about what the sheriff’s office had Saturday morning, I felt like it probably was the same person because they did the same thing at Fiesta Hall as they did at the rec department,” Cardwell said.
After identifying the suspects at the hospital, Cardwell went to Laguna’s home and spoke with his mother.
“I asked her if she had seen a brown Coach handbag in her son’s room, and she said, ‘Yes, I saw one on the floor,’” Cardwell said. “So she gave me consent to go in there, and I went in and saw it on the floor.”
Cardwell later took the handbag to the burglary victim, who identified it as the item taken from her vehicle.
Laguna was already in custody on the sheriff’s office case when Cardwell interviewed him at the jail. Cardwell said Laguna admitted he and the juvenile stole the vehicles, drove through the recreation department fence, damaged property, and broke into the cars. He also said the two took turns driving the stolen Hyundai Santa Cruz.