HCSO NARRATIVE:
“Three Alto residents remain in the Hall County Jail after Hall County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) patrol deputies caught the suspects stealing items from shipping containers on the side of railroad tracks in the East Hall County area.
The containers, which contained various household products, were located on the side of the tracks after a train derailed last week on Old Cornelia Highway at Yonah-Homer Road. Norfolk Southern Railway crews have been working since the May 21 derailment to clean up the accident site.
HCSO deputies responded to the scene around 7 p.m. Sunday…after a 911 caller reported seeing suspicious activity around the containers. When they arrived, deputies found four shipping containers where the doors had been either pried open or the locks had been cut and the doors opened.
They also encountered Brianna Nicole Ayers, 28, James Bradley Ayers, 60, and Mark Anthony Purdy, 53, at the scene. Deputies located three cases of 12-count trash bags and six mixing bowl sets inside Purdy’s vehicle; in the Ayers’ vehicle, they located two cases of 12-count trash bags, three cases of 12-count boxes of breakfast cereal, three cases of 24-count Propel water and a table.
A special agent with Norfolk Southern Railway arrived at the scene and requested that charges be filed against the three suspects. As a result, each suspect was charged with second-degree burglary and theft of cargo, which are felony crimes. At last check, the three suspects are being held with no bond on the burglary charges.”