Burglars caught, apologize

By Mark Millican
Dalton Daily Citizen

May 09, 2009 11:25 pm

— CHATSWORTH — Three men who burglarized a residence on Brown Bridge Road were caught within six hours by the victim using what he called “general deductive reasoning.”
Casey Edward Cain, 18, of 383 Mary Ave., Dale Richard Martin Jr., 18, of 338 Cagle Road, and Jared Ross Nunez, 17, of 201 10th Ave., No. 1, all of Chatsworth, were charged Saturday by the Murray County Sheriff’s Office with one count each of burglary, a felony. They allegedly had stolen $2,200 worth of firearms from Kevin Walter’s home on Friday evening, according to an incident report.
“I was in the process to get my life back together,” Walter said, explaining he had gone through major heart surgery last summer and returned home in early October. “My nephews stripped out my house (of all valuables) while I was gone and locked it down. From October until now only eight people have been in my home office, which is also my sanctuary.”
Walter called it a “gentelman’s den-office” where some valuables, including pistols, were displayed on the wall.
“Of those eight people, two work in my employment and two are in my company,” he said. “That eliminated four. I eliminated two others who are at my home office in Albany. I eliminated one more and that left one prime suspect.”
Walter said he informed the sheriff’s office of his finding and also called the prime suspect’s family. Walter refused to name the “prime suspect,” who has not been charged.
“The prime suspect called me and said he had absolutely nothing to do with the burglary,” he said. “He alluded that his little cousin had done some stupid stuff. I told him ‘I will not prosecute if I have all my property returned to me.’ Notice the way I phrased that.”
When the ‘prime suspect’ showed up with his cousin, Walter said he called the sheriff’s office to come to his home. Later the other two suspects showed up with his property, but some items were missing, he said.
“They stood in front of me as a man and apologized and I said, ‘I will not prosecute you but the state of Georgia will,’ ” he said. “Because they violated my home, I hope they face the full penalty of the law.”
Walter said he had a “crisis of conscience” about what to do, but then realized one of his guns may have gotten on the street with tragic results.
“If one of these young criminals had placed a firearm in the wrong hands and someone had gotten killed, the guilt would have been immeasurable,” he said. “One of the boys’ mothers was here (when they were apologizing), and she told him, ‘I didn’t raise you to do this!’ The bottom line is, don’t (mess) up in Murray County because we will take care of business.”
Capt. Donald Ridley with the sheriff’s office called the arrests “very unusual.”
“They said they were sorry,” he said. “It was a pretty emotional thing.”
He said the first suspect to return was Cain, whom he identified as the driver of the vehicle during the burglary.
Ridley said the investigation is continuing.
Cain, Martin and Nunez face a bond hearing this morning when a Magistrate Court judge visits the jail. They could be bound over to a Superior Court hearing due to the seriousness of the charges.