Three arrested for grand larceny
Published 5:20 pm Friday, May 11, 2007
A police investigation lead to the arrest of three suspects for the grand larceny of a generator.
Picayune Police investigators made the arrest a day after the crime took place after gathering enough evidence to press charges on the matter.
On April 30, two men by the names of Gerod Bickham and Shaun Ezell were traveling on South Beech Street when Ezell allegedly dropped Bickham off, police reports state. In his initial statement Ezell said he came back about five minutes later to pick up Bickham who had a generator in his possession, which Bickham told Ezell he purchased from a Chinese woman for $50, the reports state.
Ezell helped Bickham load the generator into the vehicle and the two men left for South Abrams Avenue. Later another man, Vandell McGill, offered to purchase the generator for $80 but a better offer at a location on South Steele Avenue prompted them to sell it to that person for $170.
McGill allegedly rode with on the trip to sell the generator on South Steele Avenue. McGill, 28, of 451 Fannie Avenue, was charged May 1, with accessory after the fact due to information gathered during the investigation, Luke said.
“He knew it was stolen when they tried to sell it to him,” Chief Jim Luke said.
Also on May 1, Bickham, 28, who resides in a FEMA trailer adjacent to 233 South Abrams Ave., was charged with the grand larceny of the generator. He was picked up in front of the new City Hall while riding with Ezell in a tan van. Investigators let Ezell go at that time since there was no evidence linking him to the crime, the reports state.
However, Bickham later implicated Ezell’s involvement in the incident and investigators went back to charge Ezell, 25, of 219 B. S. Steele Avenue with grand larceny, Luke said.
The person who bought the generator was not charged because there was no evidence the person knew the generator was stolen.