The man who allegedly stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry from an antique store in Oakwood earlier this month and walks with an unusual wobbling or swaying gait has been arrested, an official with the Oakwood Police Department said Saturday.
David Mercer Stubbs, the owner of an antique restoration business in Duluth, was taken into custody on an outstanding theft warrant by the Duluth Police Department, investigator Danny Sridej said.
According to Sridej, the suspect visited Aardvark Antiques on Mundy Mill Road on March 8 and 9. On the first day, he made conversation with employees and determined the location of the store’s cameras. He returned the following night after the store closed to steal several valuable items, including rings and an antique watch, Sridej said.
Store owner Charles Pharr said the items are valued at more than $30,000. He said the suspect walked “kind of like a penguin.”
After first entering the store on March 8 at around 1 p.m., the suspect “must have made 10 trips to the jewelry counter” to seemingly view a large piece of art beside it, which he photographed, Pharr said. He said the suspect repeatedly glanced at the security monitor in the store, unlocked the latch on a roll-up door in the back area and exited.
The following night after closing time, Pharr said, the suspect re-entered the store through the roll-up door and cut power wires in an attempt to disable the security camera system. But the cameras remained functional and footage shows the suspect ducking behind the counter and grabbing the items, according to Pharr.
Among the stolen items, Sridej said, were antique rings, gold bracelets with diamonds and an antique watch.
This was the first time such an incident has happened at the store and “this guy knew what he was doing,” Pharr said. The roll-up door is usually checked to make sure it is locked but wasn’t on the the day of the reported theft, he said.
Sridej said the suspect was also careful not to leave fingerprints.
Oakwood authorities released surveillance footage from the store to metro Atlanta media outlets, and “citizens who were watching the news broadcast on Wednesday evening stated that the suspect is the owner of an antique restoration business in Duluth,” Sridej said.
Officials obtained a search warrant for Stubbs’ business, where they found some of the jewelry belonging to Pharr as well as “a large amount of antique furniture without evidence of clear ownership,” Sridej said.
They also confiscated drugs and other physical evidence that linked Stubbs to the burglary, he said.
Stubbs is at the Gwinnett County Jail on the Duluth warrant in lieu of $2,950 bond, according to online jail records.
— Staff writer Rodney Thrash contributed to this report.
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