By JESSIE HORTON
TheFlashToday.com
ERATH COUNTY (December 29, 2015) — At least three of the recent thefts in Erath County are one step closer to being closed cases as Erath County Sheriff’s Office Investigators arrested Brandon Joseph Carnes, 19, on Monday.
According to officials with the ECSO, Carnes was a suspect in a handful of theft cases and investigators looking into the cases used a number of technical tools in solving the crime. Carnes was booked into the Erath County Jail on Monday, charged with three counts of theft of a firearm, state jail felonies.
“We have these technical tools that allow us to search through records of area pawn shops and similar businesses by name or by serial number of a gun,” Lt. Bobby Mendez with the ECSO said. “Using this technology, we were able to find Mr. Carnes had pawned two rifles and a shotgun that had all recently been reported stolen.”
Investigators were able to find out where the guns had been pawned and when. With that information, they were able to obtain surveillance of Carnes selling the weapons and secured a warrant for his arrest, which was executed by Erath County Sheriff’s Deputies on Monday.
While the guns were recovered from the local pawn shop by investigators, they have not yet been returned to owners as the case is still open.
ECSO Chief Deputy Jason Upshaw said Carnes has not been linked to any of the other recent burglaries in the area. However, those cases are still being investigated.
Carnes is being held in the Erath County Jail on $30,000 total bond.
Be the first to comment