A Jay man faces felony firearm theft and burglary charges following an investigation into a two burglary complaints by a neighbor and relative of his girlfriend in Jay revealed missing guns, tools and other items consistent with items found in his vehicle when it was located in Georgia.
Charles Taylor Blanton, 23, 4325 Morristown Road, was arrested and charged with two counts felony theft and one count felony theft of firearm when deputies responding to a burglary complaint involving missing firearms at 4512 Morristown Road discovered several tools and other items located in Blanton's blue 2006 Buick La Crosse, according to a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office report.
Investigators responded to another complaint at 6100 Travis Bynum Road made the same day that involved an office burglary where cash and fuel truck keys were missing.
John Burkhead, Jr. told police arrived that morning to find the office door had been damaged, as though forced open. The report said Burkhead claimed about $500 to $750 was missing from a cash purse, along with fuel truck keys. Burkhead told authorities that Blanton, his step-daughter's boyfriend, would have had knowledge of the cash and keys and they had lived for a while in the back of the office for about a year.
Burkhead's other daughter, Samantha Diamond, told police she had received a social media post from Blanton the previous night saying he was out of gas at Jay Cemetery, and a friend brought him gas, according to the report.
Burkhead told authorities his wife had been giving money to their daughter, Mia Granberry, and Blanton, her boyfriend, for gas and that Blanton had been acting strange. Burkhead told police that he paid the sheriff's office to sit at his mother's residence during her funeral, fearing someone may break into it. The report said a deputy had made contact with Blanton at the deceased mother's residence around the time her funeral was in progress.
Blanton told the officer he was out of gas and had no money to get gas at the Farmer's Country Market, which he passed on the way to Burkhead's mother's residence. The report said Blanton left without incident.
When a deputy attempted to contact Blanton at his address on Morristown Road, he found out from Granberry that Blanton had left to go to Georgia earlier that day, claiming his father was ill and needed him. Granberry said Blanton did not go to work that day, which was abnormal.
Granberry told the deputy Blanton had been acting strange and they had been arguing recently, the report said. Granberry said she activated a locator application on her phone for Blanton and discovered his location was listed off Travis Bynam Road around 10 p.m. the same night her sister received the social media post about his being out of gas and that she did not know how Blanton had been able to fill up her vehicle and drive to Georgia, after having asked others for gas money only days before.
The report said Blanton had two active warrants out of Georgia so the deputy contacted dispatch to locate Blanton in Georgia. Blanton had already been taken into custody in Georgia.
The report said Blanton had given his mother in Georgia a large amount of money to hold on to when he was arrested. When a Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office deputy spoke with Blanton's mother, she said her husband was not ill.
The report said a search of of Blanton's Buick revealed keys and tools matching those missing in the burglary complaints on July 2. The missing guns, a Remington .1100-12 gauge shotgun and an Ithica .22-caliber lever-action single rifle, were not recovered, according to the report.
Blanton was arrested July 17 and transported to the Santa Rosa County Jail and given bonds of $20,000 and $10,500.
