MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Two teenagers are facing a combined 166 counts of auto burglary and theft after a string of break-ins at schools and businesses around Whitehaven.
Anthwan Cox, 18 was charged with 24 counts of auto burglary and 24 counts of theft. A 17-year-old suspect in the same case was also charged with 59 counts of the same charges. He was not identified by police.
Officers were looking for suspects in a Ford Edge who were wanted in several auto burglaries. Police said the same vehicle was used in incidents at MLGW, Whitehaven High School, Hillcrest High School, A. Maceo Walker Junior High, Holiday Inn Express, Hamilton High School and UPS.
Around 5 p.m. Wednesday, the Ford, with several people standing around it, was spotted on Gill Road at Shelby Drive. By the time officers got there, the car was gone, but two males got into another car.
Those two were detained, and the car’s owner said she didn’t know who the suspects were.
Police said video footage from some of the thefts connected Cox to several of the crimes. They say he also was in possession of marijuana.
Amir Treadwell lives close to where Cox was arrested. He says he hopes both teens turn their lives around.
“Maybe he’ll sit down a little bit and think about what he had done,” Treadwell said. “Who knows? He might go back out and do the same thing again but, hopefully, him sitting down thinking about what he done just stupid he’ll straighten up, you know?”
