An Atlanta man was arrested Friday by Oakwood Police and charged with stealing shopping carts – by the truckload.
OAKWOOD POLICE NEWS RELEASE (EDITED FOR CLARITY AND BREVITY:
“About 10:00 a.m., officers were dispatched to the Kroger Grocery on Winder Highway in reference to a theft in progress.
While enroute to the Kroger, dispatch advised that a subject had loaded shopping carts into the back of a U-Haul and left the Kroger parking lot heading towards I-985 on Winder Hwy.
Additional Officers responded to the store and made contact with the store manager who advised he had received a BOLO (be on the lookout) from an asset protection manager from the Hoschton Kroger location stating there was a male subject driving around in a U-Haul stealing shopping carts from various Kroger locations in the area. The BOLO was sent approximately two hours prior to this incident. The picture of the license plate on the U-Haul matched the license plate on the U-Haul that they had stopped up the street.
While responding to the location, Officers encountered this U-Haul truck at the intersection of Winder Hwy and Atlanta Hwy. Officers activated their emergency equipment and conducted a traffic stop on this vehicle at that intersection.
Officers approached the vehicle and made contact with the driver, Immanuel Church, 29, Atlanta.
Church stated that he had been to Kroger to pick up shopping carts and that he was a third-party company that transported shopping carts for Kroger. He consented to a search of the rear cargo area.
Church opened the rear cargo hatch for the officers. They observed that it was full of Kroger shopping carts. The suspect then refused to consent to a search of the cab of the vehicle.
Church and U-Haul may be linked to multiple shopping cart thefts in the North Georgia area.”
He is being held in the Hall County Jail in lieu of bonds totaling $21,900, charged with:
POSSESSION MARIJUANA LESS THAN 1 OZ.
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POSSESSION TOOLS FOR COMMISSION OF A CRIME
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THEFT BY RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY
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THEFT BY DECEPTION
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THEFT BY TAKING – GREATER THAN $1,500