Crime & Safety

Police Arrest 2 in Midtown Car Break-Ins

Police urge people to take valuable items from their cars.

Atlanta police Tuesday morning arrested two men suspected of breaking into cars at a Midtown apartment complex.

The arrest comes during a rash of car break-ins in the city. At least 54 vehicles in Midtown, Buckhead, Little Five Points, Inman Park and Virginia-Highland have been vandalized since the weekend.

Police arrested Stephen Costly, 31, and Cedrick L. Dennis, 18, following a suspicious person call to the Savannah Midtown apartments on North Avenue, according to police spokesman Carlos Campos. 

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When officers arrived at the apartments, they saw people loading a van with items including a video game console, GPS unit, phones and stereo equipment.

Police soon discovered that several vehicles in the parking lot of the apartment complex had been broken into, Campos said. Items stolen from the vehicles were found inside the van.

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Costly and Dennis were arrested and each charged with two counts of entering auto and two counts of damage to property. Costly also was charged with possession of tools to commit crime.

Police are questioning, but have not charged, a woman who was with the two men, Campos said.

Police are investigating whether the two men are responsible for other recent car break-ins.

About 15 cars were broken into Tuesday around 2:30 a.m. at the N. Highland Steel apartments in Inman Park. Another 20 vehicles were broken into a few hours later on Euclid Avenue in Little Five Points, police said. 

And there were around 30 break-ins over the weekend, including at an apartment complex off Monroe Drive. 

Campos said the two men arrested Tuesday are not suspects in the incidents that occurred over the weekend. But "we are looking into all possibilities," he said. 

Police continue to urge people to remove valuable items from their cars. 

"Thieves routinely take laptops, cell phones, tablet computers, GPS units, even purses and money, from inside of motor vehicles," Campos said in a release.

"The only sure way to prevent this crime is to take this property with you when you exit your vehicle, whether at home, work or out for pleasure. If you must leave property inside of your vehicle for some reason, secure it in the trunk and out of plain sight."


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