Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said deputies with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, with assistance from a number of local law enforcement agencies, have arrested six people in a months-long theft ring that he called a “very open and active investigation.”

Pace said the case dates back to a May 14 incident at the Dollar General location in Bovia, when a suspect later identified as 34-year-old Joel Chritopher Calvin of Vicksburg stole a “considerable amount” of items from the Tiffantown Road store and exited through a restricted area of the business.

Pace said Calvin was also identified as the driver of a vehicle that led Vicksburg Police Department Officers, WCSO deputies and Mississippi Highway Patrol troopers on a chase through two counties before the occupants fled on foot. While Calvin was not apprehended at the time, passengers Louis Williams, 66, Roland Wilbert, 35, and Kieon Jones, 30, were taken into custody. Inside the vehicle, Pace said deputies found methamphetamines, cocaine and a handgun.

Pace said the investigation took another turn on June 16, when officials from the Hinds Community College location on Highway 27 reported the theft of a Dodge Ram pickup truck, as well as a 30-foot gooseneck trailer containing multiple pieces of lawn care equipment. Pace said, also on June 16, two Honda motorcycles were reported missing from the 1200 block of Sherman Avenue, before a third report indicated the theft of two additional trailers from a construction site in the Twin Creeks subdivision.

Pace said deputies began to “put the pieces of this conspiracy together” after the evening of June 16, when deputies recovered the stolen Ram being driven on Washington street and arrested 21-year-old Haily Caraway. 

WCSO have since also arrested Calvin and 57-year-old James “Hula” Smith in connection with the crimes.

Pace said Calvin faces charges of burglary, felony eluding, possession of methamphetamines, possession of cocaine. possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, three counts of grand larceny, three counts of vehicle theft and one count of receiving stolen property. He also has a detainer from the  Mississippi Department of Corrections, as he was on probation at the time of the alleged offenses.

Smith faces charges of three counts of conspiracy to commit grand larceny and three counts of conspiracy to commit motor vehicle theft. Caraway faces charges of three counts of conspiracy to commit grand larceny and three counts of conspiracy to commit motor vehicle theft and receiving stolen property.

Wilbert, Williams and Jones each face charges of possession of methamphetamines and possession of cocaine.

Pace said all stolen property has been recovered by WCSO, along with the help of the Delta Marshal’s Service and the Madison Parish Sheriff’s Office, with the exception of the lawn care items on the trailer stolen from Hinds Community College.

Pace said the investigation is active and more arrests are expected.