Police recover stolen property

The Lampasas Police Department recovered more than $25,000 in stolen property with the arrest of a local man last Friday.

Assistant Chief of Police Sammy Bailey gave the following account of events that led up to the arrest of Matthew Harris, 24.

On Feb. 22, tenants at an apartment complex on Broad Street reported to police that someone had removed a window screen from their apartment and had taken a cooler from their pickup truck and placed it on the sidewalk.

The tenant put the cooler back into his truck, and shortly thereafter he saw a man at the truck removing the cooler again.

The tenant confronted the male suspect, who left the area and entered an apartment.

Patrol Officer Larry Jones and Patrol Sgt. Tony Barrio responded to the tenant's call and found a back window to a second-story apartment the male suspect had entered.

A search warrant was obtained and upon searching the residence, a large amount of stolen property was recovered.

Further investigation resulted in property being recovered that belonged to St. Mary's Episcopal Church and another location. It also was discovered that vehicles in the area had been burglarized.

Harris has been charged with four counts of burglary of a motor vehicle, and theft over $20,000 and under $100,000. He was still in jail Thursday morning.

Investigators assigned to the case with Ms. Bailey include Lt. Investigator Jody Cummings, Sgt. Investigator Tim Ryan and Major Crimes Investigator Charlie Boswell.

Ms. Bailey said tenants of the apartments were the key to solving the crimes.