Blairsville couple arrested for back-to-back burglaries

Bobby Chad Evans, 42, of Valley Lane in Blairsville, has been charged with theft by taking, two counts of first-degree burglary, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and second-degree damage to property – all felonies.

Brittnee Leigh Barber, 33, also of Valley Lane in Blairsville, has been charged with probation violation, theft by taking, first-degree burglary, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and two counts of being party to a crime – all felonies as well.

Evans and Barber were arrested on April 24, and they remained in custody at the Union County Jail at press time. Both have been arrested in the past for property-related crimes, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

A Chestnut Cove homeowner called 911 around 1 p.m. on April 23 to report that the glass on his front door had been broken, his house had been entered, and multiple items were missing from the property, said UCSO Lt. Doug Brackett, who leads the Criminal Investigations Division.

Apparently, the homeowner just missed the burglar, having only been gone from the property for about an hour before returning to find his house damaged and pilfered.

CID Sgt. Marc Pilote responded to the scene and interviewed the resident. While there, he spotted four-wheeler tracks in the driveway, kicking off a search for the rogue vehicle.

Canvassing deputies spoke with multiple neighbors and even passing motorists, and several people reported having recently seen a male and a female riding up and down the road on a red four-wheeler with a very loud exhaust, Brackett said.

This information was incredibly helpful, giving investigators a better description of not only the vehicle they were looking for but also the people they were looking for, Brackett said.

UCSO searched all the nearby side roads but was unable to locate the red four-wheeler. Determined to catch the suspects, law enforcement maintained an elevated night-shift presence in the area, but an overnight rainstorm complicated search efforts.

Concentrated patrols continued into April 24, resulting in a road patrol sergeant spotting something off about a residence located just down the road from the initial burglary.

The day before, the sergeant had noticed this second residence had two posts holding up a chain blocking the driveway. That morning, however, he saw that one of the posts had been sawed off, opening a clear path from the camper atop the property to the roadway.

UCSO discovered that someone had broken into the unoccupied camper – similarly smashing the front door glass as well as cutting through a screen door – and tore off the latches of an adjacent enclosed trailer overnight.

Pilote and fellow CID investigator Lt. Dustin Walker immediately started working the second burglary, and they learned that the burglars had stolen a 2023 Harley-Davidson Street Glide motorcycle valued at $26,0000 that was stored inside the trailer.

The investigation determined that the male suspect had arrived at the property around midnight, entering the camper and trailer before leaving to retrieve his partner in crime and another vehicle.

They returned at about 3 a.m., and the female who was eventually taken in custody helped her accomplice get the motorcycle out of the enclosed trailer that was backed up against a hill, necessitating some cooperative towing and angling to pull the bike free, Walker said.

At that point, the male suspect cranked the motorcycle and made out like a bandit.

Fortunately, a break in the case came faster than the Harley could drive off into the figurative sunset. A resident hiking near Helton Creek that afternoon found the Street Glide – not exactly an offroad bike – parked and apparently abandoned on a rough Forst Service Road.

Sensing something suspicious, the resident called law enforcement, and the Sheriff’s Office picked up the Harley. Investigators believed the thieves would be back to retrieve the motorcycle “for some kind of profit gain,” so they staked out the area and waited for their return.

Sure enough, around 6 p.m., a silver F-150 truck containing a man and a woman pulled into the area and was promptly pulled over by patrol deputies, Walker said.

“The driver was identified as Brittnee Barber, and the passenger was Bobby Evans,” Walker said. “At that point, (the patrol deputies) spoke with them. Some of their statements were inconsistent about where they’d been.

“Our deputies ended up getting consent from them to search the vehicle, and they found a Harley-Davidson helmet and a black Harley-Davidson drawstring-style bag that was described by the victim.

“They also found a drone in a gray zipper case. At that point, we didn’t know anything about the drone. I contacted the victim, and he said, yeah, actually, there was a drone. He described the make, model and what it was enclosed in before I gave him any information.

“He said it was in one of the cabinets that had been opened inside the camper. So, he described it to me to a T, and it matched what they had in their vehicle.”

The truck also contained tools that could have been used, for example, to pry off the latches on the damaged trailer, and deputies found battery-powered saws that could have easily felled the chain post, Walker said.

At that point, deputies placed the couple in an investigatory detention to bring them back to the Sheriff’s Office for questioning, Walker said.

Barber was hesitant to talk at first, but after having some of the evidence explained to her, “she ended up breaking down and confessing to not only her involvement but his involvement as well,” Walker said.

For his part, Evans declined to speak with investigators and requested the presence of an attorney.

While the interviews were being conducted, other deputies went out to the couple’s residence on Valley Lane – about a 10-minute drive from the Chestnut Cove burglaries – where they found a red four-wheeler sitting in the driveway, Brackett said.

“We think they were using this four-wheeler to case out houses, riding through and looking for houses that aren’t full-time residences, because they rode through that subdivision more than that one day according to the neighbors that we talked to,” Brackett said.

Also at the residence were multiple pieces of property reported stolen in the first burglary, sitting in plain view inside an open carport of the home, Brackett said.

The Sheriff’s Office has recovered all the items taken from the second residence and some from the first, with ongoing attempts being made to retrieve any still-missing property.

Brackett said investigators went back to the subdivision the day after the arrest, on April 25, to let residents there know what had happened with the individuals who had put everyone on edge.

“They were vigilant – they were helping us and wanted them caught, too,” Brackett said of the neighbors. “They were certainly appreciative when Lt. Walker and Sgt. Pilote went out and told them that they had gotten both of them in custody.”

Given the rapid succession of these crimes, Sgt. Pilote believes the Sheriff’s Office – with help from an eagle-eyed hiker and residents keeping an eye on their neighborhood – potentially stopped a burglary spree before it could really get going.

“We rely on the citizens just as much as they do us to help us solve a lot of this stuff, because we can’t be everywhere all the time,” Pilote said. “And who knows – a small tip may be a major break, like in this case.”

Added Brackett, “We were aggressively working the case. Sheriff (Shawn) Dyer is not going to put up with burglaries and thefts. We’re not going to leave any stone unturned. We’re going to work and follow every lead we possibly can between Road Patrol, Narcotics and Investigation.

“If you’re committing thefts and burglaries, our job is to put you in jail. That’s what Sheriff Dyer wants us to do, and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The above individuals are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law.