SCSO arrest Toccoa following manhunt

The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office recently arrested a Toccoa man following a manhunt Tuesday, January 17, 2023.

According to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley, deputies with his office were notified by the Toccoa-Stephens County Airport Authority and 911 dispatch that a male subject had driven a vehicle, later learned to have been stolen from a business on Prather Bridge Road, into the parking lot, before entering the airplane parking area.

The male subject then began running down the taxiway into the direction of a parked airplane.

The suspect then attempted to pull the cover off the aircraft in order to gain access.

After the male suspect was unable to gain access to the aircraft, he turned his attention to a vehicle parked next to the aircraft that was also covered.

The suspect attempted to take the cover off the vehicle to gain access to the car.

After he was unsuccessful the male suspect ran down a hill into a wooded area nearby.

Shirley says deputies, as well as officers from the Toccoa Police Department arrived on scene and established a perimeter around the wooded area.

The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office K9 Reba was called to the scene to assist in tracking the suspect.

Reba then flushed the male suspect out of the woods where he was apprehended by law enforcement.

The suspect was identified as 58-year-old Kenneth Leon Kell, of Toccoa.

Kell was arrested for obstructing or hindering law enforcement officers, theft by taking motor vehicle, and three counts of criminal trespassing.

Kell remains in the Stephens County Jail awaiting bond and a probation warrant.