Arrest made in multi-county vehicle thefts

WINSTON COUNTY - Law enforcement have been busy working multiple vehicle thefts involving at least three counties, all linked to a 22-year-old Haleyville man.
Gavin Lee Crane, of 24321 Highway 129, has been charged with two counts of theft of property first degree, receiving stolen property second degree, concerning a firearm, and fraudulent use of a credit/debit card, according to Haleyville Police Department Investigator Austin Lewis.
Crane was taken into custody on Wednesday, March 12, by Haleyville Police in the Newburg Road area, with Crane having possession of a firearm taken from one of the stolen vehicles, as well as having used a credit/debit card from a separate vehicle he took, a vehicle that belonged to a local minister, Lewis stated.
The string of stolen vehicle reports began on Tuesday, March 11, in the Double Springs area, where a woman who was in Mike Gilbreath Memorial Park with her children saw her vehicle being driven away, stated Double Springs Police Chief Andy Tucker.
“It was a complicated investigation to gather all the facts of it,” Tucker stressed. “Based on evidence we gathered, Haleyville Police Department’s investigation and our interview of the suspect, we were able to piece it together.”
Double Springs Police were contacted around 4 p.m. March 11, to respond to the park on a vehicle theft, Tucker began.
The victim of the theft told police she saw a blue Ford Mustang being pulled by a pickup truck come into the parking area, Tucker stated.
“She saw a male out around the vehicle that pulled up,” Tucker said. “The next thing she noticed was her vehicle leaving  the parking lot spinning tires.”
The truck being stolen was a 2003 black Chevrolet 1500, according to Tucker, noting the woman had left the keys inside the vehicle.
She contacted authorities, who came on the scene, finding the blue Mustang in the parking lot.
Police learned that Crane had been driving the Mustang on County Road 24, when it ran out of gas.  A passerby came on the scene and used his truck to pull the Mustang to the park, Tucker said.
Police are not sure why the Mustang was towed to the park in Double Springs. “That was probably the closest place he could get off the road,” Tucker said.
Further investigation also determined the blue Mustang  belonged to an individual in Marion County, according to law enforcement.
The black truck stolen from the park in Double Springs was found out of gas Wednesday morning, March 12, at a lumber business in Littleville in Colbert County, where a flatbed truck and trailer had been stolen, law enforcement indicated.
Tucker went to the lumber company in Colbert County and obtained video surveillance footage showing a male subject carrying a white bag on the property where the black truck was located, Tucker noted.
Police also viewed video footage from an antique store located near the storage yard of the lumber business, according to Tucker.
The video footage allowed law enforcement to make the connection that a male subject had dropped off the black truck stolen from Double Springs at the main office of the lumber company, Tucker stated.
The subject then walked a quarter mile to a separate lumber storage yard of the same business, where he took the flatbed truck and trailer, according to Tucker.
“He was seen crossing an antique store parking lot in order to access the other lot where the truck was stolen,” Tucker noted.
A Glock .32 pistol, which was inside the black truck stolen from Double Springs, was reportedly taken by Crane, police said.
Knowing this, Tucker advised  Colbert County law enforcement to approach the lumber yard scene with caution in case the suspect was present and armed with the stolen firearm, Tucker stated.
Law enforcement were able to clear the scene, not finding the suspect or the firearm at the lumber business, according to police.
Double Springs Police contacted the victim of the truck theft in Double Springs to come to Colbert County to identify and claim the vehicle found there, Tucker said.
Later in the day March 12, Tucker was contacted by Haleyville Police Chief Rodney Lewis asking about the flatbed truck stolen and stated they had a suspect in custody who had the firearm and keys from the black truck taken from Double Springs, Tucker stated.
The flatbed truck was located at Bales Automotive at theQuick Shop shopping center off Newburg Road near 30th Street in Haleyville, where a gray Ford F-150 was stolen, noted Haleyville Police Chief Rodney Lewis.
The gray Ford stolen from the former Quick Shop area was later found at Living Water Church, where a second black Chevrolet truck--this one reportedly belonging to the church’s minister--was stolen, Rodney Lewis stated.
“All these vehicles were out of gas. That seems to be the common factor,” Austin Lewis stated.
A wallet inside the minister’s truck, reportedly containing cash and a credit/debit card, was allegedly stolen by Crane, who reportedly used the credit/debit card to purchase two 12-ounce drinks (but no gas) at a convenience store on Newburg Road, Haleyville Police stated.
Rodney was meeting with the minister at Living Water getting a report on his stolen truck when Crane reportedly went by them driving that vehicle, police said.
“(Crane) was nice enough to get the receipt (from the drink purchase)  and bring it with him and put it in the truck,” Rodney pointed out.
At this point, Haleyville Police stopped Crane in the minister’s vehicle and took him into custody, police said. Crane was transported without incident to the Winston County Jail in Double Springs, police said.

*When a defendant is charged with a crime, the charge is merely an accusation until or unless proven guilty in a court of law.