Suspect arrested in rash of North Baldwin burglaries

BCSO release
Posted 1/5/18

BAY MIENTTE, Alabama — A suspect has been arrested and charged in a rash of burglaries ranging from Perdido to Bay Minette reported over the last month.

Lewis Lamar Clayton Jr., 50, of Bay …

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Suspect arrested in rash of North Baldwin burglaries

Posted

BAY MIENTTE, Alabama — A suspect has been arrested and charged in a rash of burglaries ranging from Perdido to Bay Minette reported over the last month.

Lewis Lamar Clayton Jr., 50, of Bay Minette, was booked into the Baldwin County Corrections facility on Wednesday, charged with multiple counts of third degree burglary. He is being held without bond on a detainer for hold with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office.

According to a BCSO release issued Friday, the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Office has received numerous burglary reports over the last month. These burglaries involved forced entry to residences or garages.

On Jan. 2 game camera photographs were recovered from a victim’s residence off U.S. 31 in the Bay Minette community which showed a tall slender built white male suspect. On Jan. 3, a law enforcement bolo was generated and forwarded to surrounding agencies in an attempt to identify the suspect. Later that day, Bay Minette Police officers observed a white male matching the description of the burglary suspect and performed a traffic stop on the subject. He was identified as Clayton.

According to the release, Clayton was found to be wearing clothing that matched that of the suspect captured on the game camera. Sheriff's department investigators were notified of the contact with the suspect and responded to Bay Minette where Clayton was interviewed regarding the recent burglaries. During the interview, Clayton confessed to five reported burglaries, two unreported burglaries, and a burglary in Nokomis (Escambia County, Alabama) that was committed earlier that same day.

“During the interview (Clayton) admitted to knocking on the doors of residences to ensure no one was home before forcing entry through a back or side door,” according to the release. “His primary property targets were guns, TVs and most notably Christmas presents that was located under victims’ Christmas trees.”

As a result of the interview, Clayton had been charged with five counts of burglary third degree and is being held at the Baldwin County Correction’s Center under no bond. Clayton provided information regarding the locations of the stolen property from all of the offences.

Sheriff’s investigators traveled to several residential and commercial locations and recovered 13 firearms, multiple items of lawn equipment, power tools and one television. Attempts to identify additional victims will be made and could result in additional charges.

According to records on the Baldwin County Corrections Facility website, Clayton has a string of bookings dating back to 2008, mainly theft of property charges. His last booking, a negotiating worthless instrument charge, was in July of last year. He was released the same day on a $100 bond.

If anyone has additional information about Clayton, please contact Cpl. Rob Lindell at 251-972-8589 option 2.