Oneida, TN (2008-11-18) The Oneida and Winfield Police Department joined forces Tuesday morning to nab a Kentucky couple that has been allegedly linked to a series of recent auto burglaries in both municipalities.
According to Oneida Police Chief Mike Cross, Bobby J. Kidd, 45, and Shona Williams, 36, both of McCreary County, KY, were apprehended by the Oneida Police Department around 11:39 a.m. Tuesday morning in the parking lot in front of Peebles department store. Kidd has been charged with attempting to use a stolen debit card inside the store. Both suspects have also been charged in connection with at least three auto burglaries, including two that occurred over the weekend.
The couple’s story began earlier in the day, when the Winfield Police Department was dispatched to investigate an auto burglary on the campus of Winfield Elementary School. According to Bryan King, Assistant Chief of the Winfield Police Department, a person or person(s) had smashed the window out of a van in the school parking lot, taking a purse from inside. The victim, prompted by authorities, immediately notified her creditors. While King was investigating the theft, authorities received a tip from Lee’s Food Mart in Winfield that a person(s) had attempted to use a stolen debit card taken from the auto burglary at the convenient store’s gasoline pumps.
As Winfield continue to work on the case, Oneida authorities received a complaint from Peebles department store that a person had attempted to use the stolen debit card to make a purchase. Chief Mike Cross, Sgt. Brett Bond, Sgt. John Terry, Patrolman Jason Pike immediately responded. Sgt. Bond caught the couple in the parking lot, as the pair attempted to leave the scene.
After detaining the pair, authorities allegedly found articles of personal information inside the couple’s vehicle linking them to at least two of three similar auto burglaries over the weekend in Oneida. On Sunday evening, two employees of Sonic Drive In had their purses taken from their locked cars behind the restaurant. The victim’s driver’s licenses were reportedly recovered from Kidd’s vehicle. A third so-called “smash and grab” crime occurred the same evening in the parking lot of Carmike Cinema. In that case, the perpetrator(s) took a satellite radio.
Kidd and Williams have each been charged with vandalism (three counts) and theft of less than $1,000 (three counts). Kidd has also been charged with fraudulent use of a debit card and illegal possession of a debit card.