Sheriff’s Office Praised for Quick Response in Home Break-In
Franklin County Sheriff Scott Andrews’ plan to assign specific officers to patrol specific areas is being credited for catching a man who had broken into a residence in Gumlog.
At the Franklin County Board of Commissioners’ work session, Beverly Folsom, who started Reclaim Gumlog, told the Board about a recent incident in which she said a man broke into a home. She credited the quick response of the deputy assigned to the Gumlog area for catching the man while he was in the house.
Folsom said the Gumlog Community has not had that kind of quick response from law enforcement in the past.
According to the incident report, on January 11 at around 8p, Franklin County Dispatch began receiving calls regarding a male in the area of Gumlog Rd and Fisherman Cove.
Dispatch reported that the male was standing in the roadway with multiple luggage bags, asking people if they knew the location of a woman he identified as Peggy, telling them he was trying to get to her home.
The deputy said that the woman the man was trying to find was known to him as someone who lived on Rue Chalet off Gumlog Road.
When the deputy arrived he found the man’s luggage in the roadway and citizens in the area informed him that the man had left his luggage and had begun walking towards the lake behind 15 Fisherman Cove.
As he was looking for the subject, the deputy then received another call from Dispatch regarding a report of a male who was forcibly entering a home on Rue Chalet, where a 15-year-old juvenile was home alone and had locked himself in his bedroom.
When the deputy arrived at the house he found the man, later identified as 50-year-old Jason Keith Prather of Flowery Branch in the living room of the house and he was placed under arrest.
The deputy searched Prather and found he had on his person a Springfield Armory magazine loaded with .45 caliber ammunition, a pocket knife, and a guitar.
The owner of the residence, who was at work, saw the man on his security camera and rushed home.
The juvenile told the deputy he heard someone banging on the front door so he locked himself in his room downstairs and heard a male talking and moving about the home. He stayed downstairs until he heard the deputy enter the residence and take custody of the male.
The deputy added that on the homeowner’s surveillance camera, Prather could be seen walking around inside the residence, taking two guitars from a bedroom, and begin playing one of them in the living room.
Prather was taken to the Franklin County Sheriff’s office and turned over to jail staff.
He was charged with 2nd degree home invasion and public drunkenness.