Georgia
MONTICELLO – A union mason working for a construction company at the Kartrite waterpark in Kiamesha Lake was 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 was 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 sent to the Sullivan County Jail without bail pending future court action.
