Police: Gwinnett Storage-Unit Burglar Caught with House Full of Stolen Items

Police in Gwinnett County have arrested a man in connection with a series of storage-unit burglaries during the past month.

Matthew Dean Jones, 50, was arrested Friday, Jan. 23, after Lilburn Police found a house full of stolen items at his Lawrenceville-area residence, according to a news release.

Lilburn PD said it “recovered enough stolen property to fill a moving van,” and actually needed one to haul away all of the property. The stolen property came from storage units and one residence, police said.

Jones is accused in connection with several storage-unit burglaries since December at Extra Space Storage on Lawrenceville Highway in Lilburn. The manager showed police that Jones and an associate entered the property on numerous occasions and then stayed for a much longer time than most customers would.

Police said surveillance video showed on some occasions Jones and an associate entering the property with an empty trailer and leaving with a fully loaded trailer.

“It appears that Jones was removing locks from storage units, stealing the contents, and then putting a new lock on the unit, so that the theft was not immediately discovered,” Lilburn PD said in the news release.

“Through his investigation, Inv. [Cody] Belcher was able to determine that Jones and an associate had engaged in prior criminal conduct that involved thefts from storage units.”

When police served a search warrant on Jones’ address on Talemwood Court near Lawrenceville, they discovered the residence filled with stolen property, much of it already reported stolen. Items included bedroom and dining room furniture, guitars, TVs and numerous household items.

Also recovered was a box of around 60 crucifixes a woman had collected in her world travels.

“There was so much property recovered at the scene that it was necessary to rent a mid-size moving van to transport it all to the Lilburn Police Department,” police said.

Jones was charged with three counts of burglary and one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Additional charges are pending.

Police are working to find all of the owners of the stolen property.

(Photos: Video surveillance showing suspect entering and leaving storage-unit business; stolen items found by Lilburn PD during investigation of storage-unit burglaries; Matthew Dean Jones, 50, was arrested and charged. Credit: Lilburn PD)