Another car stolen from same southside college kid apartment complex
By now, city cops might have Arcadia on the River as a text shortcut in their computers.
Nine more entering auto incident reports were filed, all stemming from break-ins at the property during the early morning hours of Feb. 26. Also, a maroon Nissan Altima was reported stolen, marking the third stolen vehicle from the complex in the last month and the fourth since late December.
Milledgeville Police Department Chief Dray Swicord said that patrol officers canvassed the area after each of the incident reports was filed, adding that "the situation still wasn't great."
"(Officers) found 37 different cars that were still unlocked," he said. "I just want to get the word out to make sure to lock your vehicle."
Arcadia is the newer apartment complex located off of South Elbert Street and Underwood Road, east of the new Georgia Military College ballfields and just north of Freedom Church...
Fortunately, no handguns were reported stolen, as guns are the holy grail for entering auto thieves. In most of the incidents, nothing was reported stolen.
A "hit" on the stolen Maxima later recorded by the Flock Security camera on South Elbert Street near the Milledgeville Manor. The victim "stated he left the keys inside the vehicle and doors unlocked."
The first auto theft was on Dec. 29, when a red Honda Accord was reported stolen from the Arcadia parking lot. The victim "advised the last time she saw her vehicle was at midnight, and her keys were left inside the vehicle with the doors unlocked." The suspect apparently wasn't familiar with Apple AirTags, and the AirTag on the victim's keychain later pinged to the Milledgeville Manor. The AirTag later pinged to the area of the same Macon apartment complex from a subsequent Macon apartment complex.
Arcadia's security cameras were actually in "record mode" at that time, although it wasn't the greatest quality. According to the officer's narrative: "I contacted personnel with Arcadia who provided black and white surveillance video footage of the back gate at approximately 0530 hours of two unidentified male subjects wearing hoodies who attempted to jump over the back gate but then moved to the side where they were able to enter the complex. Another camera toward the entrance of the complex showed a vehicle possibly matching (the) vehicle leave the area but, due to low lighting in the area, was unable to show the driver or positively identify the vehicle."