Atlanta police arrested a man wanted on charges related to a rash of gambling coin machine break-ins earlier this year.
Investigators believe 27-year-old Tabaurius Gay pried open gaming machines at four Atlanta convenience stores between Sept. 5-18 and tried to steal the cash boxes, Atlanta police said in a news release. He was also sought on charges stemming from a similar robbery in East Point.
A team of fugitive investigators arrested Gay in southwest Atlanta on Wednesday, police said. He faces 14 theft-related charges tied to the incidents in Atlanta. Those charges include four felony counts of burglary smash and grab along with three counts apiece of felony theft by taking and criminal damage to property.
Gay, a convicted felon, was last released from prison in August 2020 after serving a 22-month stint for drug and weapon charges, Georgia Department of Corrections records show.
The recent thefts were committed in a similar manner, according to Atlanta police. Investigators quickly determined the incidents were linked and identified Gay as a suspect in all the robberies.
Detectives will continue to investigate Gay’s possible involvement in other crimes within the city, police said.
“Owners, employees and customers of these stores can take solace knowing that there is one less thief to be concerned with in the area,” officials said in Wednesday’s news release.
Authorities sought an unidentified man and woman who broke into a gambling machine at a Chevron mini-mart along Lakewood Avenue on Sept. 11, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.
Atlanta police released surveillance footage from the incident, which showed the female suspect enter the store and a man follow closely behind her wearing a hooded Nike jacket and black face mask.
The pair walk to a row of slot machines and the male suspect uses some type of tool to force open one of the gambling devices. After prying off the front partition, the video showed the man snatch the cash box and the two suspects walked out.
An Atlanta police spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the robbery was one of the cases that led to Gay’s arrest. It was not immediately clear if the female suspect has been arrested, the spokesperson said.
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