Another arrest, increased bonds in theft ring

Published 4:36 pm Friday, July 17, 2015

Another arrest was made in an alleged theft ring that was responsible for multiple burglaries in Valley Grande over the last few weeks.

According to Sgt. John Hatfield with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department, 22-year-old Mothie Brown was arrested Wednesday and charged with four counts of third-degree burglary and two counts of probation violation.

“We arrested him Wednesday afternoon,” Hatfield said. “We had warrants on him and went to two different residences looking for him. He actually called his state probation officer.”

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According to Hatfield, Brown turned himself in to the probation officer.

Brown’s bond was originally set at $60,000 for the four burglary charges, but according to Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson, his bond was increased Thursday to $125,000.

Brown is the fourth person to be arrested that was allegedly involved in the theft ring. The other three are Creshanda Steele, 20; Melvin Coleman, 25; and Jessica Hall, 26.

Steele and Coleman were arrested Monday, and Hall was arrested Tuesday. Coleman was charged with three counts of third-degree burglary, while Hall and Steele were charged with one county of third-degree burglary.

Steele, who was given a $5,000 bond, and Hall, who was given a $5,500 bond, made bond late Monday night. Despite the bonds, Coleman and Brown are being held at the Dallas County Jail for state probation violations.

Jackson said he expects Hall’s bond to be revoked because of a petition his office filed due to a previous criminal charge she had on her record.

Jackson said the bonds should have been higher than what they were originally set at when the arrests were made.

Coleman’s bond was also increased to $125,000 from the original $45,000 he was given.

“Right now, we’ve got everybody that we know is involved,” Hatfield said. “I have one more name that has come up, but I am currently trying to build enough probable cause to arrest that person also.”

Hatfield said deputies have also recovered more property that was stolen from the Valley Grande homes.

“We feel good about the case. We’re still in the process of recovering some property,” Hatfield said. “We actually recovered two more televisions today [Friday] that were stolen.”

The sheriff’s department has already recovered seven weapons, ammunition and other electronics, according to Hatfield.

“[The victims] are very thankful and very appreciative of what we’ve done,” Hatfield said. “Of course. they are concerned about the material things that they lost as far as guns, electronics and that kind of stuff, but we’re not done yet. We’re still anticipating recovering some additional items.”

Chief Deputy Randy Pugh said the group was allegedly using two vehicles for the burglaries. One vehicle was used as a lookout while the other was used for the ones breaking into the homes.

The arrests were made after the sheriff’s department received information on a description of a car that was being used in the burglaries.

“We’re going to see it through until we locate all of the property or until we get to a point where we don’t believe we’re going to locate any more,” Hatfield said. “We feel like that anywhere in this county, if you break into somebody’s home, we’re going to catch you, and we’re going to put you in the county jail.”