CARROLLTON - An Atlanta man has been charged with stealing $20,000 worth of jewelry from a Carrollton Kmart store and is a suspect in similar thefts from other area Kmarts, police said. <br>
<br>
Thomas Lewis Grier Jr., 42, was arrested Friday and charged with the May 1 theft of diamond rings and other jewelry from the Carrollton Kmart. In all, $230,000 in jewelry and cigarettes have been stolen from nine Kmart stores in north Georgia. <br>
<br>
Grier was identified by several people who saw video surveillance clips of him at Carrollton and two other Georgia Kmarts. Police also matched a fingerprint lifted from one of the stores. <br>
<br>
The Carrollton video showed the man crawling behind the jewelry counter three times in a 23-minute period before taking a whole tray of jewelry at the store about 30 miles west of Atlanta. <br>
<br>
Capt. Michael Mansour said Grier has an extensive criminal history, including drug, theft and burglary violations. He was arrested without incident at his home Friday.
