Thieves hit hunting camps

Published 12:42 am Thursday, August 9, 2018

NATCHEZ — Investigators found roughly more than $10,000 worth of stolen items Wednesday believed to be from various hunting camps throughout Adams County.

Guns, bows, knives, hunting gear, video games, television sets, cell phones, generators, tools and many other items were all pulled out of a trailer at 6 Jack Kelly Road in Natchez.

The trailer occupied by Clinton Kyle Blackwell, 26, who was arrested Wednesday following an anonymous tip and a search of the property, said Adams County Chief Deputy Jerry Brown.

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Blackwell faces charges of possession of stolen property and three counts possession of stolen firearms..

“They basically took anything they could,” he said.

Brown said Wednesday’s discovery is one of three related arrests that occurred over the course of a week.

Two arrests were made on Aug. 2: Shaun Colby Campbell, 22, of 8 Pheasant Road and Joshua Earl Grantham, 31, of 32 Canvas Back Court, both in Roxie.

Brown said county investigators discovered suspicious items on Aug. 2 while servicing an unrelated warrant from Franklin County for Grantham and as they searched 32 Canvas Back Court deputies found hunting gear that officers said may have been stolen — but did not find Grantham.

Brown said investigators then received information that Grantham was hiding at a house at 8 Pheasant Road, where they found Grantham and other similar items.

Investigators arrested Grantham on the Franklin County warrant and Campbell for harboring a fugitive on Aug. 2. Franklin County authorities refused to release information on the warrant they had out on Grantham.

Of the items found at each of the three properties, Wednesday’s discovery was the largest and most valuable by far, Brown said.

The items uncovered within the past week, Brown said, are believed to have taken from eight to 10 hunting camps in a string of burglaries that occurred in the past five months, and he believes the discovery will lead investigators to more arrests in the near future.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Brown said. “We’ve sent photos to the camp owners and some of them have already identified the items.”

Brown said the recovered items would be held as evidence before they are returned to their rightful owners.