Having a full tank of gas in the getaway car is one of the first things they teach you in criminal school.
Apparently a Dacula man was cutting class the day they covered that -- he ran out of gas minutes after committing a smash-and-grab robbery at a Barrow County convenience store and was arrested after being picked up as he walked down the highway, police say.
Barrow deputies responded to an incident in the early morning hours on Friday at the BP Gas station on Ga. Hwy. 211 at Rockwell Church Road, said Lt. Matt Guthas of the Barrow County Sheriff's Office. On arrival they found the front glass doors demolished and cigarettes and lottery tickets missing from the store, Guthas said. Also missing was the vehicle used to smash into the store -- but not for long.
Deputies found red paint on the metal door frame and pieces of broken taillight littering the scene. After a search of the immediate area, deputies found an abandoned 2003 red Ford Expedition by the side of the road, Guthas said.
The vehicle had damage consistent with the evidence found at the scene and there were cigarettes and lottery tickets visible inside the vehicle, he said.
A little while later, Micah James Mitchell of Dacula was spotted walking down the highway by a Jackson County deputy who gave him a lift back to his disabled vehicle, where he was arrested.
Mitchell, 41, was booked into the Barrow County jail. He is charged with smash-and-grab burglary, criminal damage to property and theft by taking.
Barrow investigators are working with police from Braselton and Gwinnett County to see if Mitchell may be responsible for two similar incidents in Braselton and Dacula that occurred hours before the Barrow County crime, Guthas said.
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