Georgia
MONTICELLO – A union mason working for a construction company at
the Kartrite waterpark in Kiamesha Lake has been arrested on several burglary-related
charges in Sullivan and Orange counties and others as far north as Tompkins
and Schuyler counties.
“This guy was a one man crime wave,” Sullivan County Sheriff
Michael Schiff said after the arrest of Justin Georgia, 30, of the Village
of Trumansburg in Tompkins County.
On July 14, Sullivan sheriff’s deputies began investigating a burglary
at 37 Thompson Road in the Town of Thompson. Jewelry and two checkbooks
had been taken.
The investigation revealed that on July 11, a man walked into a bank in
Milford, Pennsylvania and cashed one of the stolen checks. Two days later,
the same man attempted to cash another check at a bank in the Village
of Bloomingburg, but when the teller became suspicious, the man fled.
Later that day, the man went to a bank on Route 211 in the Town of Wallkill
and was able to cash the stolen check.
Using surveillance video, deputies were able to get a good picture of
the perpetrator, who would later be identified as Georgia.
On July 23, a new burglary was reported at the same 37 Thompson Road home.
Based on the bank surveillance video and other information, detectives
began to believe the suspect was a construction worker at the waterpark.
That is where Georgia was arrested and initially charged with felony criminal
possession of stolen property – for the stolen checks – while
they built the burglary case against him.
In the meantime, he was sent to Watkins Glen where he was wanted by the
Schuyler County Sheriff’s Office on an indictment charging him with
two burglaries that occurred in March.
On July 25, Sullivan Sheriff’s detectives executed a search warrant
on his car and found some $5,000 worth of tools that had been taken from
the waterpark construction site and a folder containing the names, dates
of birth, copies of drivers’ license and Social Security numbers
belonging to some of his coworkers.
When the investigation had been completed, detectives realized Georgia
was committing the burglaries on his lunch hour and then returning to
work at the construction site. It is also believed that in some cases
he drove upstate after getting off work, committed burglaries and then
returned to Sullivan County later than evening.
Police in Ithaca are still investigating Georgia in connection with burglaries
in that area.
On August 22, George was transported from the Schuyler County Jail to
the Sullivan County where he was arraigned on two counts of felony burglary
and an additional charge of felony possession of stolen property.
He was remanded to the Sullivan County Jail without bail pending future
court action.
