Suspects in local armed robbery are arrested
A citizen’s tip to law enforcement may have helped solve several recent armed robberies, including one in south Grady County.
Two Thomasville men are behind bars as suspects in at least four holdups and one burglary. The tipster recognized Kealeeon Rashun Miranda, 20, who was taken into custody by Thomasville Police at 9:30 p.m. Thursday, according to Scott Newberry, an investigator with the Thomasville Police Department.
During an interview with police, Miranda allegedly confessed to the robberies and a burglary of a home in Valdosta where two long guns were stolen. Those same guns were then used in armed robberies in Grady, Decatur and Baker counties and in Valdosta, Newberry said.
Police also learned that the second suspect, Darrell Donnell Perry, 27, was traveling back to Thomasville that night from Macon. Officers conducted a traffic stop on Perry near Coolidge at 4 a.m. Friday and took him into custody, according to Newberry, who also said Perry was driving the same car used in the Valdosta cases. Newberry said Perry confessed to most of the cases, but did not specify which ones.
One of the long guns, which was equipped with night vision, was found in the trunk of the vehicle Perry was driving when he was taken into custody. Newberry said the second long gun has since been recovered from an individual in Thomasville who had purchased the gun from Perry and Miranda.
A search of Miranda’s home on Russell Road, turned up clothes and shoes worn in the armed robberies in Grady and Baker counties, Newberry said.
Warrants are being issued against the men by Baker County Sheriff’s Office, Grady County Sheriff’s Office, Bainbridge Public Safety Department and Valdosta Police Department, the Thomasville Police investigator said. They are now being held in separate locations, one in Bainbridge and the other in Baker County, according to Newberry.
Two men wore masks and gloves when they robbed the Title Pawn on Hwy. 319 S. the morning of Monday, Aug. 14. That same day, they allegedly robbed a business in Bainbridge and then a liquor store in Baker County. All of the robberies were conducted in similar fashion, according to Grady County Sheriff Harry Young.