GA: Man Holds Alleged Theif At Gunpoint
This story appeared in the print version only of the Rome (GA)
News-Tribune. It was sent to me and I have copied it. There is no link
because the story never appeared online. Robert
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Man holds alleged thief at gunpoint
After being burglarized several times, operator lies in wait outside
business
Wednesday, March 20, 2002
By Chris Fincher
Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
[email protected]
A Floyd County, [Georgia] man who said his business had been burglarized
too many times caught a man at his business and then held him at
gunpoint until police arrived, authorities said.
Jamie Cole, 27, of Cedar Bluff, Alabama, remained in the Floyd County
Jail Tuesday night pending $ 8,850 bail on numerous felony charges.
Randall Clifton, operator of S & W Builders, told Floyd County police
officer Sabrina Hall that his 8353 Alabama Hghway business had been
broken into several times.
According to the report submitted by oflicer Hall: Clifton lay in a
field outside his business for about an hour before Cole drove up in a
1988 Ford Crown Victoria late Monday night.
The business owner watched as the suspect waited for traffic on the
highway to pass before he stepped from his car and walked to the side of
the building carrying a tire iron.
At that point Clifton tried to activate his business’s silent alarm but
mistakenly hit the audible alarm.
Cole started to run away but Cifton chased him down with a rifle and
told him to lie down until police arrived.
When officers Hall and Spencer Warren arrived, they found Cole on the
ground with Clifton standing over him. Cole was taken to jail after
being treated at a Rome hospital for ant bites. Cole told police when he
was captured he lay down in a bed of fire ants.
A subsequent search of Cole’s car turned up a pair of bolt cutters and
knives as well as a bottle of assorted prescription pills, rolling
papers, a pipe for smoking marijuana, and a pen barrel filled with
suspected amphetamine.
Officers later learned that Cole also was wanted for failing to appear
in Floyd Superior Court and his [driver's] license had been suspended.
He is now facing charges of criminal attempt of burglary, possession of
tools for the commission of a crime, possession of drug-related objects,
failure to keep drugs in their original container, driving with a
suspended license, failure to appear, prowling, and violation of the
state Controlled Substance Act.
