Crime & Safety

Decatur Police Make Arrest in String of Auto Entries

Man charged with 37 counts

The Decatur Police Department has arrested 21-year-old Seth Shammah Ben Israel of Stone Mountain in connection with a series of 37 illegal automobile burglaries that occurred in Decatur during the month of May.

Deputy Chief of Police Keith Lee announced the arrest in a press release sent out to local media on Monday.

"Israel was targeting unsecured vehicles parked in driveways and on the street and taking items such as change, currency, credit cards, GPS systems, iPods and cell phones," the press release said. "Further investigation revealed a great deal of pawn activity by Israel in recent months and led investigators to other victims in Atlanta and DeKalb County."

Find out what's happening in Decatur-Avondale Estateswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Israel was identified through an automated fingerprint and palm print identification system; the department also has hired a part-time certified latent print examiner. As a result, the department can now process fingerprint evidence  in-house rather than being sent to the GBI.

"Israel was spotted in the East Ponce de Leon/Glendale area by two Decatur officers on their way into work on 06-04-11 and taken into custody without incident," the press release said. "Israel has admitted to entering an unknown amount of vehicles in recent weeks. Investigators are still working to recover and return stolen property."

Find out what's happening in Decatur-Avondale Estateswith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.

More from Decatur-Avondale Estates