Holly Springs Police Arrest Entering Auto Suspects

The Holly Springs Police Department have arrested two men believed to be behind several entering auto thefts in a neighborhood.

Canton residents Billy Edward Blake, 37, and Christopher Reed Lay, 34, were arrested on Friday for the string of thefts, which occurred in the Harmony on the Lakes subdivision.

Law enforcement personnel from the police department’s Criminal Investigations Division and the Uniform Patrol Division participated in an undercover operation during the early morning hours.

Around 2 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26, officers observed a subject walk toward a vehicle parked in a driveway in the subdivision and attempt to make entry.

Officers continued to follow the subject on foot through a wooded area to a home on Swan Lane. Officers then made contact with two subjects at that location.

“One subject was immediately taken into custody while the second fled on foot into a wooded area,” said Holly Springs police spokesperson Sherron Conrad.

A K-9 officer with the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene to assist in the search, and the second suspect was taken into custody without incident, Conrad stated.

Police discovered evidence that connect both men with the entering auto thefts that have occurred in the neighborhood over the past two weeks, Conrad added.

(Photo: Canton residents Billy Edward Blake, 37 (left) and Christopher Reed Lay, 34, (shown here in a 2013 booking photo) were arrested Friday morning and charged with entering auto. Holly Springs Police believe they are behind several entering auto cases in the Harmony on the Lakes subdivision)