The Oglethorpe Echo
The Oglethorpe County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man suspected of breaking into Sandy Cross Grocery in the early morning hours of Jan. 8.
Jeffery O’Neal Bugg, 35, of the Glade Community, was arrested Tuesday morning after a short foot chase in the rain, Sheriff David Gabriel said.
Bugg, who Gabriel said made a full confession, was charged with burglary, obstruction and a probation violation, Capt. Mike Tyndell said.
He was arrested after a short investigation based on leads from the community and others developed within the Sheriff’s Office, Gabriel said.
“The same name kept popping up,” he said. “We pretty much knew (Monday) who it was.”
Deputies were dispatched Tuesday morning to arrest Bugg and found him walking along the road in the rain.
“We live in a great community that does not tolerate criminal types,” the Sheriff’s Office posted on its Facebook page. “We appreciate the great effort by everyone and hope it sends the message ‘not in my county.’”
Deputy Kevin Wright was dispatched to Sandy Cross Grocery, which is on Lexington-Carlton Road, early Monday and noticed that a glass door to the store had been shattered. He spoke with two employees and he entered the store with another deputy.
The store wasn’t occupied.
An employee told them that the cash register was missing. Wright searched the store and found a navy blue plaid jacket, a black beanie and gloves, according to the incident report.
The store owner arrived and played the video surveillance recording for the deputies. It showed a man approaching the store at 2:07 a.m. and then breaking the glass door and entering it one minute later, according to the report.
The report states the man grabbed cartons of cigarettes and tried to remove the cash drawer. The video showed him, the report states, going to the back of the store and returning with shears, which he removed from their package.
He used them to cut a cable to the register, the report states, and left with the register and three cartons of cigarettes.
The report states that only $10 was in the register.
Traffic fatality
One man was killed in a single-car accident on the 1900 block of Crawford Smithonia Road on Tuesday, Oglethorpe County Coroner James “Junior” Jackson said.
The man wasn’t identified pending notification of next of kin.
Three dogs in the car were taken to a veterinarian for treatment, he said.
This is the first traffic fatality in 2024, Jackson said. There were three last year.