A Fort Stewart custodian faces charges of burglarizing numerous homes in Liberty and Long counties. The suspect, Khalil Abdullah, is at the Liberty County jail in Hinesville.

Long County Sheriff’s Office Detective Nicky Anderson said in an interview Friday that Abdullah was arrested by Hinesville police at his job as head custodian for Fort Stewart schools. On Wednesday, he was taken to his residence in the 1300 block of Forest Lake Drive, where members of the Liberty and Long county sheriff’s offices and HPD initiated a search warrant. They found dozens of items that are thought to belong to burglary victims.

According to Anderson, Abdullah had legally changed his name several years ago from Johnny Williams, and it was discovered he has an extensive criminal history.

The participating agencies had been investigating the burglaries, and they caught a break when a deer camera recorded a vehicle — a silver Mercedes thought by authorities to be Abdullah's — leaving a burglarized residence.

The agencies searched the area, found a car that matched the description of the car caught on tape, put the neighborhood under surveillance and homed in on Abdullah’s residence.

 According to Anderson, Abdullah is alleged to have committed two burglaries on Wednesday morning prior to going to work. 

 When authorities entered the residence, they found dozens of allegedly stolen goods, including computer equipment, tablets, weapons and jewelry. The goods were taken to the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office training room and are being inventoried and matched against items reported stolen through each agency’s incident reports.

 Long County Sheriff Craig Nobles said great police work put an end to the burglaries.

 "Working with Sheriff Steve Sikes and his officers and the Hinesville Police Department” helped solve the case. (Otherwise) “this case would have been much harder to solve," Nobles said. 

 Anderson said all of the agencies have been able to close out numerous burglary reports.