Gwinnett County police have recovered three vehicles, two Jet Skis and a trailer, and have made one arrest and are looking for three other suspects who went to a lot of trouble stealing them, authorities said Friday.
The Gwinnett police Auto Theft Unit’s investigation resulted from the burglary of several vehicles in the 4400 block of Aberdeen Road in unincorporated Lilburn about 3 a.m. on Aug. 8. A set of keys for a 2002 Lincoln Blackwood pickup truck were among the items taken, police said.
About 11 a.m. that day, the burglary suspects, including 18-year-old Kempton Greaves of Stone Mountain, returned and stole the Lincoln – along with a trailer and two Jet Skis hitched to it, police said.
Two days later, Gwinnett police located the watercraft and trailer at Lake Lanier. At the time, they charged the man who allegedly had possession of the items, Nathaniel Johnson, 24, of Atlanta, with theft by receiving.
Johnson was released on bond before police learned the Ford F-250 he was driving also had been stolen, from Tifton, police said. The vehicle identification number or VIN had been altered to that of the same type of vehicle legally registered in Alaska.
Police now are seeking Johnson on an arrest warrant charging him with two counts each of theft by taking, theft by receiving and possession of a motor vehicle with an altered VIN, and one count each of theft by conversion and possession of a forged title.
In a related case, Snellville police were investigating a report of stolen Cadillac Escalade that had been sold by Johnson and his sister, 27-year-old Tina Johnson of Atlanta, to a car broker, Craig Davis, 35 of Covington, Gwinnett police said. This vehicle also had an altered VIN.
Davis paid $20,000, less than half the market value for the car, despite what police said were “several red flags” that the vehicle was stolen. The Cadillac has been recovered.
Police said they now are seeking Tina Johnson on charges of theft by receiving, theft by conversion, possession of a vehicle with an altered VIN, and possession of a forged title; and Davis on charges of theft by receiving and possession of a motor vehicle with an altered VIN.
Greaves, meanwhile, has been arrested and is being held in the Gwinnett County Detention Center, charged with three counts of entering an auto and four counts of theft by taking, according to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office.
Greaves has been assigned bonds of $5,700 for each ‘entering an auto' charge and no bonds on the theft by taking charges.
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