Deputies arrest alleged multi-state burglar

A Hattiesburg man faces charges here for an alleged burglary in the McDonald community that is reportedly part of a crime spree he went on earlier this month starting in South Mississippi and ending in Starkville, the authorities say.

The man, Isaac Merrimon, 43, of Highway 72, Hattiesburg, was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary.

Merrimon has a criminal record that spans Alabama, Tennessee, Texas, and now Mississippi, according to Neshoba County Sheriff Eric Clark. 

“Criminals like Merrimon steal and commit crimes as he moves through an area,’ Clark said. “Another story of Neshoba County neighbors helping look after each other’s property.” 

Clark said he encourages residents to lock their doors and invest in camera systems to prevent the “opportunity from making a thief.”

On July 15, at 8:30 pm, Neshoba County Sheriff's Deputies responded to a burglary at 10560 County Road 248, in the McDonald community, Clark said. 

Deputies spoke with the homeowners, who stated they were away from home most of the day on Saturday, Clark said. They returned to find that someone had entered their residence through the garage door. The owner stated that the refrigerator doors were open, cabinet doors were open, children’s bedroom and master bedroom had been rummaged through. 

Three diamond wedding rings and a pink Apple watch were reported stolen, Clark said. A vehicle in the driveway had been rummaged through and was missing an assortment of hand tools and possibly coins from the center console.

Clark said investigators spoke with a next-door neighbor, who remembered seeing an unknown black male wearing a maroon T-shirt and blue jeans at about 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon. He said he was trying to turn around in the neighbor’s driveway, backed in the ditch, and got stuck. Clark said the male subject asked him if he could come pull him out. The neighbor said, he didn't think anything about it and he went and pulled him out of the ditch. Later the neighbor helped deputies recover camera footage from his home camera system to better identify the vehicle. 

“The car had a broken back passenger glass, which made it easy to spot,” Clark said.

A search was done on the local Flock license plate reader camera system for a red Mustang. Clark said an image of a red Mustang was captured on a camera at about 5 p.m., Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia. 

This was determined to be the same car a Deputy Sheriff had observed on the surveillance system at the neighbor’s residence. The tag number was recorded on the Flock system and the vehicle came back as reported stolen by Hattiesburg Police Department on the same morning as the burglary.

Later the same day, Starkville Police Department arrested Merrimon who was driving the stolen red Mustang, Clark said, and was reportedly wearing the pink Apple Watch that had been stolen from the residence here earlier that afternoon. 

Neshoba County Jail Records show Merrimon was brought into local custody on Friday, July 21.