Three Griffin men who took a page out of William Tecumseh Sherman's playbook are charged with stealing a section of railroad track and trying to sell it, police said.
An anonymous caller told Griffin police Nov. 25 that men were taking metal from Norfolk Southern property near Kalamazoo Drive and Martin Luther King Parkway, according to an incident report obtained by the AJC.
A police officer found a truck fitting the caller's description parked at Bare Metals, a business that buys scrap metal. In the back of the truck, the officer found a 5-foot section of railroad track, eight railroad tie-downs, a road sign, and several other pieces of metal believed to have been stolen, the report said.
The driver of the truck, Daniel Skinner, 19, initially claimed he and the other two men, who police later determined he had picked up at a homeless shelter, obtained the metal "down the road" from a friend's yard in McDonough. Skinner and one of the other men, Stanford King, 20, were placed in the back of a police car and began to argue, police said.
At police headquarters, Skinner told police he had stolen the material to raise money to get a friend out of the Henry County Jail. He later recanted.
"Their stories kept changing," said Capt. Dwayne Jones with Griffin police.
Police reviewed videotape of the men in the back seat of the police car and overheard Skinner telling someone on a cellphone that the men had taken the track from Norfolk Southern property. In the video, King allegedly became angry with Skinner, saying he had just been released from prison and that this would violate his parole.
Skinner and King, along with Derrick Bennett, 23, are charged with theft and criminal trespass. Skinner was also charged with driving without a license and insurance.
About the Author
