Local News
Lester man accused in string of storage-building break-ins
ATHENS — Athens Police and Limestone County Sheriff’s investigators have captured a man believed responsible for a string of thefts at city and county storage buildings.
On Tuesday, Athens Police charged Richard Todd Crowe, 42, of 26111 Dupree Hollow Road in Lester with six counts of third-degree burglary and one count of possession of burglary tools, records show.
“We are glad to have this suspect,” said Athens Police Lt. Floyd Johnson. “This was becoming a major problem.”
Over the past several weeks, police have investigated break-ins at eight storage units at various locations throughout Athens, the lieutenant said.
On Tuesday, Athens Police Investigator Johnny Campbell saw Crowe putting a plastic storage container in a truck at M&J; Mini Storage at 23578 U.S. 72 East and stopped him at 72 and Mooresville Road, Johnson said. Campbell noticed in Crowe’s truck a set of bolt cutters and several padlocks that had been cut, he said.
Campbell asked Sgt. Jason White and Investigator Katrina Flanagan to check the storage units at M&J.; The officers discovered several storage units had been broken into, so Crowe was arrested and taken to city jail by Officer Roger Martin, Johnson said.
“We had talked with investigators from the Sheriff’s Department and knew they were also having storage units broken into,” Johnson said. “We contacted their investigators about Crowe’s arrest, and we felt he was involved in several of their burglaries.”
Limestone County Sheriff’s Investigators Eric King, Randy Burroughs, Lt. Brad Curnutt and Chief Deputy Randy King, along with Athens Police investigators, went to Crowe’s home Tuesday night and found some of the property reported stolen from storage units in both the city and county, Johnson said. The items — which include tools, dishes, an antique sewing-machine cabinet and an air-compressor with a serial number matching one reported stolen — were loaded into a trailer and hauled to the Sheriff’s Department so they can be returned to the owners, Johnson and Curnutt said.
Crow told investigators he had already sold or traded some of the property, Johnson said.
County burglary charges are pending against Crowe, and investigators are still looking into cases.
“We are trying to determine the number of storage buildings he broke into,” Curnutt said.
“We know of five or six that he broke into and there may be five others we are checking on.”
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Vickie Strasser, 52, was taken by ambulance at about 10:40 p.m. to Athens-Limestone Hospital with second- and third-degree burns over 95 percent of her body. MedFlight was called to rush her to Huntsville Hospital at about 11:30 p.m., but she died before the helicopter arrived. -
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Scott Robertson and his wife, Amanda, and four children, daughter Jordan, 16; son Matthew, 14; son Dallas, 9; and daughter Lily, 5, lost everything they owned on Aug. 29 when an early morning fire — sparked by a cigarette thrown on a patio chair outside another apartment — destroyed all eight units in Building D of the apartment complex at 1711 W. Elm St. in Athens. -
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