Three 18-year-olds who police believe stole cars outside metro Atlanta gyms are in the Gwinnett County jail without bond.
Jaelen Terrell Barnes of Stockbridge, Moses Diamond of Atlanta and Kendell Jones of Stone Mountain are charged with criminal attempt to commit a felony, according to jail records.
They were caught Tuesday when police said Diamond tried to distract a Planet Fitness employee and take a set of car keys from a rack near the front desk.
Employees quickly realized what was happening, notified authorities and held Diamond until officers arrived at the gym’s Peachtree Industrial Boulevard location, Duluth police spokesman Ted Sadowski told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Diamond ultimately led officers to Barnes and Jones, who were arrested near the Planet Fitness in a stolen vehicle out of Braselton.
Police say the trio stole at least four cars in the past two weeks from Planet Fitness and a nearby LA Fitness, according to Channel 2 Action News.
Most of the stolen cars have been recovered. However, there could be more that investigators don’t know of yet, Sadowski said.
When police caught up to Barnes and Jones, they said they discovered multiple keys in the stolen vehicle.
The arrests prompted police in Gwinnett and DeKalb to take another look at similar incidents at gyms in their areas, Channel 2 reported.
It appears the teens simply wanted to cruise using other peoples’ money and cars, police told Channel 2. Officers found pizza, receipts and trash in the recovered vehicles, the news station reported.
In addition to the attempt charge, Barnes and Jones face a charge of giving a false name to police. Jones and Moses were charged with receiving stolen property.
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