A suspected auto burglar received an unpleasant surprise Saturday afternoon: Among the plunder police say he stole from more than 25 vehicles in Steens was a cell phone — a cell phone with a GPS tracking device that led Lowndes County sheriff”s deputies straight to him.
Investigator Tony Cooper said William Brent Bowen, 31, of 426 Dickerson Road in Steens, was arrested at 12:31 p.m. Saturday after a 24-hour auto burglary spree, during which time he is believed to have broken into between 25 and 30 vehicles at homes throughout Steens.
The owner of the cell phone called AT&T representatives, who then worked with the Sheriff”s Department to trace the phone to Highway 12, north of Sand Road, where Bowen was arrested and taken into custody.
Cooper said although Bowen threw a lot of items from the window of his tan Chevrolet Lumina after he spotted heavy police detail in the area, enough stolen merchandise — including the cell phone — was still in the car, connecting him to the burglaries.
“He took purses, change, checkbooks, small stuff; we”re still looking for a couple of guns missing,” Cooper said. “We”re still getting phone calls from people just finding out.”
The department first began receiving calls about the burglaries on Friday around noon. Cooper said this is one of the more unusual auto burglary arrests they”ve handled.
“We”ve had other investigations where we pinged phones and found people,” Cooper said. “This is one of the few I can recall where someone stole a cell phone with GPS, and all their movements led us right to them.”
Bowen is believed to have been working alone, and until calls stop coming in from victims, it will be hard to determine the dollar amount of items stolen.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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