Two Toccoa Men Charged with 28 counts of Entering Auto

Two Toccoa men have been arrested in connection to the recent entering autos calls the Sheriff’s Office and Toccoa Police Department have received.

According to Stephens County Sheriff Randy Shirley, on March 23, deputies with the Stephens County Sheriff’s Office responded to reports of entering autos in neighborhoods off of Rock Creek Road.

These reports included residences on Edwards Drive, Cedar Drive, Acre Estates, and Crawford Circle, all of which occurred the night before.

After deputies began taking the reports they conducted a canvas of the area in an attempt to locate anything suspicious.

It was during this canvas that deputies located an unoccupied vehicle off of Dear Chase Road.

The vehicle was registered to an individual who did not live in the area and was parked suspiciously in the wood line.

Deputies were unable to locate anyone around the vehicle at the time. Because of the number of incidents, investigators were contacted and responded to begin conducting an investigation.

Investigators initially reviewed home surveillance footage obtained from several incident locations.

In these videos there were two white males seen wearing dark clothing, going from car to car at several residences.

One of the males appeared to be the same individual that the suspicious truck was registered to.

Investigators were able to determine that the registered owner, Austin Charles Leverette was currently residing in Stephens County off of Fowler Town Road.

Investigators and deputies then went to his home to attempt to conduct an interview.

Upon arrival, Investigators met with Leverette and during the course of his interview, he admitted to his involvement with the entering auto reports. Leverette also identified the other male in the video as Joseph Lee Williams, age 19, of Toccoa.

Leverette was placed under arrest and a search warrant was obtained for his residence. During this search, multiple items reported as stolen in the entering autos were recovered in his home. Deputies were also able to locate a book bag in the wood line near the residence, which contained more stolen items.

Deputies and investigators then began a search for Joseph Williams.

Through multiple interviews, investigators were able to determine what kind of vehicle Williams had last been seen in and issued a BOLO for all surrounding areas.

At around 2 p.m. an officer with the Toccoa police department conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle matching the BOLO description on Poplar Street.

Williams was located in the back passenger seat of the vehicle and was placed under arrest.

Investigators responded and interviewed two other occupants of the vehicle. These interviews resulted in the recovery of the clothing worn by Williams and Leverette while committing the entering autos.

Austin Charles Leverette, 20, of Toccoa and Joseph Lee Williams, 19, of Toccoa, have both been charged with 13 counts of entering auto.

Currently, the investigation is ongoing with the Toccoa Police Department. There will be more charges as the investigation continues.

Shirley said Toccoa Police Chief Jimmy Mize has the pair charged with 15 counts of entering autos, bringing the total vehicle break ins to 28.