Sharp attention to detail and a traffic stop helped the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office and the Hinesville and Midway police departments shut down what LCSO Sheriff Steve Sikes is calling a “burglary ring.”
According to a news release issued by the LCSO and information confirmed by Capt. Chuck Woodall of the LCSO detective division, the bust and subsequent arrests wrapped up a month-long investigation.
LCSO Deputy Chris Reed said authorities started investigating a rash of burglaries in Hinesville and Midway at the beginning of January.
Woodall said there were no obvious leads at first, but deputies compared the burglaries and started piecing together similarities.
“They looked at a bunch of unsolved burglaries and sat down and compared notes and looked through them very meticulously,” Woodall said. “And they were able to come up with patterns that we were able to identify, vehicles and people that were seen in the area … they started seeing overlapping small pieces of evidence between the different burglaries. By putting that together, they were able to come up with some suspects.”
Woodall said the possible suspects they put together all seemed to know each other.
Reed added that Midway Police Chief Kelli Morningstar had received reports of a particular vehicle spotted at some of the burglary scenes. Her department later initiated a traffic stop on the vehicle, and Reed interviewed the driver.
That interview provided the deputy and investigators with enough information to proceed to the next step.
“We applied for and issued four search warrants at one time, and we hit them all simultaneously,” Woodall said.
The warrants resulted in the arrest of several suspects and the recovery of stolen items.
Duwatkins Strodder, Christopher Kimble, Trequan Williams, Devonte Golden and Tyree Roberts were arrested in connection with the burglaries.
Christopher  Galinovsky and Benjamin Roque were arrested on unrelated drug charges as a result of the search warrants, according to Woodall, who said, “During the investigation, we were able to identify some of homes as being narcotic locations and some being used as fences for stolen property.”
Another suspect, Daniel Ruiz, was arrested for theft by taking, a misdemeanor.
Woodall and Reed said the investigation is ongoing and could lead to more arrests.
While all of the arrested suspects have been before the magistrate judge, the booking papers still are being filed with the clerk of courts.
Devonte Golden was charged with one count of burglary and one count of probation violation-felony. His bond was set at $2,850. Kimble was charged with five counts of burglary and one count of probation violation-felony. Galinovsky was charged with unlawful possession, control, manufacture, deliver, distribute, dispense, administer, purchase, sell or possession of a firearm or knife during commission of or attempt to commit certain felonies; possession of tools for commission of a crime; and use of a communication facility in commission of a felony involving controlled substances. No bond amount was posted. Roberts was charged with one count of burglary and one count of probation violation-felony. No bond was posted. Williams had an outstanding bench warrant for criminal trespass and had bond set at $11,200. He also was charged with two counts of burglary. Strodder faces six counts of burglary and one count of probation violation-felony.