Newton Citizen

COVINGTON -- The Newton County Sheriff's Office believes the nose knows. Deputies, with assistance from K-9 bloodhound Jiggs, arrested two suspects Friday morning after they were allegedly caught in the act of attempting to steal an air conditioning unit.

Roshun Lanarko Kemp of 10718 Magnolia Heights and Anthony Cardell Malcom of 3331 Ga. Highway 138, Conyers, were arrested and charged with theft by taking, obstruction of law enforcement officers, criminal damage to property in the second degree and acquiring a license plate for purpose of concealing the ID of a vehicle.

According to an NCSO incident report, a caller alerted 911 dispatchers around 8 a.m. that two men -- one wearing a white T-shirt and the other wearing a black T-shirt, were seen in the backyard of a residence on Pebble Drive allegedly attempting to steal the air conditioner.

The deputy states in the report that when he arrived at the location, he looked through a privacy fence and saw the two men matching the description given standing in the backyard.

"I gave a loud verbal command for them to get on the ground and both subjects fled on foot toward the entrance to the subdivision," he stated. " ... I chased the subjects through several backyards until they climbed over a wood privacy fence."

When the deputy first arrived at the scene, there was a black Chrysler in the driveway of the residence. He went back to that location and ran the tag number of the automobile through his computer and found that the tag on the Chrysler was actually registered to a Jeep Cherokee.

The K-9 Jiggs was brought to the scene and his handler allowed Jiggs to get the scent of one of the suspects from the driver's seat of the Chrysler.

"I commanded Jiggs to start tracking. Jiggs went to the privacy fence and went through the open gate. He tracked to the AC unit which had been dismantled. Jiggs tracked through the opposite gate leading out of the backyard and to the woodline. He tracked back to another wooden privacy fence. (The deputy) advised the suspects did jump the fence when he lost contact," the report states. "I took Jiggs to the front of the subdivision and around the back side of the fences. I commanded Jiggs again to start tracking. Jiggs picked back up the scent and started tracking behind (a) residence on Forest Drive in the woods. He came to an opening behind a residence (and another deputy) advised the suspects just crossed Forest Drive, heading back towards Pebble Boulevard. I observed two males running through the woods, one male had on a white shirt and khaki pants and the other male had on a black shirt. ... Both males continued to run towards Pebble Boulevard. ... Deputies in the area said the males went behind some residences and they lost contact."

But Jiggs still had his nose to the ground and the handler continued allowing him to track the suspects. The report states a short time later, both men were in custody.