ATLANTA — Police say they caught a suspected serial burglar in Buckhead hiding in someone's attic.
Police are calling this man a career criminal.
They say he's been convicted of burglary in Atlanta before.
If they didn't catch him burglarizing a home in this neighborhood today, they believe he would've kept breaking into homes.
"I'm just so happy they caught this guy," neighbor Dina Zeckhausen said.
People who live in a Chastain Park neighborhood in Buckhead have been on edge for the last couple of months.
There have been more than 35 burglaries around the area and people like Zeckhausen didn't know which house would be next.
"Everybody has been kind of worried about it," Zeckhausen said.
She got some relief Friday morning when Atlanta police arrested Jamell Malone.
Police told Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes they found him in a house on Putnam Circle after a neighbor called 911.
That neighbor said a car was backed into his next door neighbor's driveway, and it looked suspicious.
When police showed up, they found the glass on the back door smashed, and said the suspect tried to hide in the attic.
Police told us he eventually came out and said "You got me."
Police were able to link his car to 15 Buckhead burglaries, and one in Sandy Springs.
"He's a career criminal, he's a burglar, we've known that he committed burglaries in the city of Atlanta in the past," Sgt. Warren Pickard said.
Police hope Malone stays behind bars this time.
"I would hope that a judge would consider the stake of putting him out in the community and allow him to victimize the citizens of Atlanta over and over again," Pickard said.
WSBTV
