Campus auto burglars arrested

By BRIAN HAWKINS
sdneditor@bellsouth.net [2]

Mississippi State University police have charged four local teenagers in connection with a series of vehicular burglaries that occurred on campus during Bulldog football games.
Two of the four — Devon Riley, 17, of Brookville Gardens, and Doug Erwin, 17, of Sandhill Arms — were arrested Wednesday as adult offenders, said MSU Police Department Sgt. Brad Massey on Thursday. Riley was charged with three counts of automobile burglary; Erwin is charged with one count.
The other two teens, both 15, are being charged as juvenile offenders and will see their cases handled in Youth Court, he said. One of the two juvenile suspects is charged with five counts of auto burglary; the second juvenile is charged with one count.
The vehicular burglaries in which the four are charged date back to the weekend of the MSU-Alcorn State football game, Massey said. All four suspects are believed to have been acting together in the burglaries, he said.
“They all know each other. They were hitting parking lots all over campus on game days. There was no one particular area they were targeting,” Massey said.
Most the burglaries involved unlocked vehicles and saw the theft of MP3 players, cellular phones, GPS locators and car stereo equipment, Massey said.
The first juvenile suspect was taken into custody Oct. 2 and the second was arrested Oct. 31, Massey said. After further investigation, Riley and Erwin were arrested on Wednesday, he said.
Massey said MSU police want to remind anyone driving to the MSU campus to be sure to place valuables out of sight and lock their car doors when parking.
“Auto burglaries are frequently a crime of convenience,” Massey said. “If people have to keep valuables in the car, put them in the trunk or store them out of sight. Always be sure to lock the doors.”