Decatur PD Arrests Man on 37 Counts of “Entering Autos” in May
Decatur Metro | June 6, 2011Great news from a press release just sent in by Deputy Police Chief Keith Lee…
Decatur Police have arrested 21-year-old Seth Shammah Ben Israel of Stone Mountain for a series of entering autos that occurred in Decatur during the month of May. Residents from Clarion/ Nelson Ferry/Woodlawn/Fairfield/Garden reported (9) entering autos which occurred overnight, May 15th-16th. Residents of the Great Lakes neighborhood then reported (28) vehicles entered overnight, May 21st-22nd. Israel was targeting unsecured vehicles parked in driveways and on the street and taking items such as change, currency, credit cards, GPS systems, iPods and cell phones. Further investigation revealed a great deal of pawn activity by Israel in recent months and led investigators to other victims in Atlanta and DeKalb County.
Israel was identified through the use of the AFIX Tracker system (Automated Fingerprint & Palm Print Identification System). The Decatur Police Department has recently hired a part time certified latent print examiner and purchased the AFIX Tracker system which allows for fingerprint evidence to now be worked in-house rather than being sent to the GBI. The turnaround time has been drastically diminished as it can take months to receive results from the GBI due to the volume of cases they work for the entire state.
Israel was spotted in the East Ponce de Leon/Glendale area by two Decatur officers on their way into work on 06-04-11 and taken into custody without incident. Israel has admitted to entering an unknown amount of vehicles in recent weeks. Investigators are still working to recover and return stolen property.
Nice work DPD!
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Great work, DPD. Sounds like AFIX is a great investment. GBI has some great employees but it’s woefully underfunded and understaffed.
As a person whose auto was one of the ones entered in on May 22nd, I must say I am pleasantly surprised that the perpetrator was apprehended so quickly.
Nice work DPD!
So do we now revisit the discussion about Decatur PD putting the note in the “unsecured vehicle parked in a driveway?”
Does this report change anybody’s view on the subject?
No
Not mine.
Yes, well, er no.
“Does this report change anybody’s view on the subject?”
The article didn’t state or imply police leaving the notes were responsible for this capture. So why would it?
But pretend it did for a sec though, would it change the concerns about the constitutionality of the matter? No. Even if they caught an entire ring of car thieves, it would not change the concerns about the constitutionality of the matter actually. Are you (not you specifically, but anyone) comfortable with the government trampling your rights on the grounds it may help you at some point in life TBD?
Different act, same premise:
If the government said they randomly identified and stopped a member of Al Qaeda by listening to his phone calls from a warrantless wire-tap, does this mean they should be given the go ahead to wiretap and spy on every single person in the US on the basis they may have any information about terrorism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act
“The article didn’t state or imply that leaving notes was responsible for his capture.”
Correct, but the thief was targeting vehicles that were “unsecured and parked in driveways,” which was the situation in which the note was left.
I’m still against an officer entering a vehicle parked on private property. I think the officer in question probably thought he was doing the right thing. I am still of the opinion that he should have rang the homeowner’s doorbell, regardless of it being 4:00 AM.
But again, I think the guy’s heart was in the right place and this info sheds a little more light on that.
Great work. And, no, the notes in cars is still wrong.
I wonder if Mr. Ben Israel is aware how confusing his name is to Google’s AdSense algorithms.
No, Google, I don’t want to vacation in Tel Aviv. I just want to see the guy’s mugshot.
I took the liberty of rehosting his mugshot since the Dekalb OJS is generally slow to the point of useless during business hours.
http://i54.tinypic.com/30avouc.jpg
Looks like somebody needs to be yanked up, have his sticky little hands spanked, then get thrown into the pokey for a long time. 21 years old– now this kid’s ruined his reputation & his record for good. *sigh*
Wonder what # offense this is for him. “Cause if it’s 1 or 2, we’ll likely be seeing him again very soon.
This little endeavor is the highlight of his record. He he’s a had a minor drug bust, a receiving stolen property and difficulty maintaining his commitment to his parole officer.
As one of the folks that got stuff stolen the night of May 21, I am pleased the Decatur PD got him. Good investment in AFIX…
Great work by the DFB. Very easliy could have been forgotten in the pursuit of other work. Glad he admitted to it.