A Cornelia man remains jailed after his arrest Friday for several Clarkesville burglaries.
Coty Shane Hardman allegedly entered a vehicle Thursday night at Aire Serv in Walls Complex, taking a cell phone, said Clarkesville Police Chief Brad Barrett.
Barrett said Hardman also allegedly entered a vehicle at the Clarkesville Post Office, though nothing was taken, and allegedly broke into Farmer Dentistry, taking a muzzleloader rifle.
Officers went to a home just outside Clarkesville Friday, where Barrett said they found various stolen items from Thursday night’s thefts.
Hardman was arrested and faces two counts of entering auto, two counts of theft by taking, burglary, and additional charges, Barrett said.
“He’s a suspect in the previous entering autos and burglaries that we had,” Barrett said. “Those were both in the city and out in the county.”
The stolen firearm from Farmer Dentistry was recovered Friday.
“He admitted to the firearm and gave us information to where he had hidden it to maybe come back later,” Barrett said. “We found it along with a bicycle that we suspect to be stolen, also.”
Additional charges and additional arrests are possible and could be forthcoming, Barrett said.
“We’ll be investigating further,” Barrett said. “We have some reason to believe there may be another party involved – an accomplice.”
Barrett said now is the time for Clarkesville residents and businesses, as well as those surrounding the city limits, to check their premises for forced entry, stolen property, or missing items and to secure valuables, structures, and vehicles.
“If anybody realizes they’ve had anything stolen recently, I would ask them to please report it to us – or anything broken into,” Barrett said. “And even though we’ve got a suspect that’s apprehended that people still continue to use caution and exercise commonsense as far as locking up valuables and locking vehicles, any kind of outside shops and whatever you may have to try to make it as difficult as possible for somebody.”
