Three charged in 18 felonies
Three men are in custody in connection with a string of 18 felonies committed in Neshoba County the last week or so including one at the Philadelphia Country Club.
Brandon Brekeen, 24, of 11190 Road 610 has been arrested and charged with six charges of burglary of a commercial building and one charge of grand larceny.
Jacob Allen Gardner, 24, of 10947 Road 383 faces four charges of burglary of a commercial building and one charge of grand larceny.
Lil Jeffery R. Wells, 27, of 10091 Road 549 also faces five charges of burglary and one charge of grand larceny.
Brekeen and Gardner’s charges come from a break-in at the Country Club and the burglary of a barn on a property off of County Road 1723 that included a Kubota side-by-side. Wells is only charged in connection with the burglary at the barn.
Sheriff Eric Clark said that Deputies James Bradley, Josh Burt and Gordon Adkins were instrumental in the investigation that led to two open cases being cleared and more than a dozen felony charges.
“These guys have worked extremely hard this week,” Clark said. “They helped solve 2 open cases, which included 18 felony charges and recovered tons of property. Using all of our resources to make Neshoba County a safer place to live.”
Clark said that other deputies were involved but that those three had worked closely on the case since it was reported last week. They were assisted by Trent Myers, an officer with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks in the area.
“He stopped by the office for a visit on Monday and we put him to work,” Clark said with a chuckle.
Clark said that on Monday, Dec. 28 investigators with the Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office made arrests in connection with the Philadelphia Country Club burglary that occurred on Dec. 22.
Burglars had broken into the Country Club and made away with a list of items including two television sets, two sets of irons, several wedges, several fairway woods, golf apparel, sunglasses, and a cable TV programming router.
After interviewing a couple different suspects, officers were led to 11190 County Road 610. This address uncovered several stolen items and clues linking the above suspects to a stolen RTV.
At the property, Myers joined investigators and helped search for a Kubota side-by-side that was said to be hidden behind the residence. The Kubota RTV 900 side-by-side was located on the property along with several other items of evidence.
Interviews led the officers to 1014 County Road 1723 in the Sandtown community where the Kubota was taken from. The owner was notified and met officers on the property to verify the theft of his RTV.
When the owner arrived at the residence, he found the RTV was missing and found that the residence, multiple sheds, and barn were burglarized. Once Officers were on scene, they returned the Kubota RTV 900 to its owners, John and Amy Stokes, and documented the burglaries.
Over the course of the next two days, investigators recovered the two TVs and a bag that contained the stolen golf clubs from the Country Club.
Neshoba County Sheriff’s Office returned the collected evidence to representatives of the club.
“The return of these items is due to information collected from the public,” Clark said. “We encourage each of you to do your part in this fight to make Neshoba County a safer place to live. The information that you may have about these crimes or other crimes in our area, please call East MS Crime Stoppers or the Sheriff’s Office.”
Anonymous tips can be made to East MS Crime Stoppers at 855-485-(TIPS) 8477 or the Sheriff’s Office at 601-656-1414.