Neighbors at Cobb apartments woke up to find the tires stolen off of their cars

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Several residents of an apartment complex say they woke up to a crime they didn’t expect to happen inside the gated garage of their apartment complex.

Several neighbors walked to the garage and discovered all four wheels were missing from their vehicles and the cars were sitting on cinder blocks.

The thefts happened at the MAA West Village apartment complex, earlier this week in Smyrna.

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“I was pissed, disgusted, mainly in shock that that could happen. I see one of my neighbors’ truck on a cinder block with all four of his tires missing and the first thing in my head, maybe he’s doing some work,” Jewell Horton told Channel 2 Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell.

But Horton realized she was wrong when she discovered her own car sitting on cinderblocks with all four tires missing.

“I actually feel victimized,” said Horton.

Horton is thankful for how quickly police returned her tires to her, she says she received them on the very same day of the crime.

A speedy process that took place when the Cobb County Police Department got a tip.

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Police released a statement regarding the crime, along with information regarding the overall problem they’ve seen over the past year.

Since November of 2022, the Cobb County Police Department has been investigating the thefts of wheels and tires. The suspect would enter an apartment complex, steal a vehicle, and then use that vehicle to move around to different complexes jacking up the cars and taking the wheels and tires.

In the past year, we have had over fifty such cases centered primarily around the Cumberland, Vinings area with some in Kennesaw as well.

Detectives developed a suspect and were in the process of building a case when we had a vehicle stolen of the same type he typically uses. In the same complex, on the same day, we had multiple wheel and tire thefts. Detectives were conducting a separate investigation when they found the vehicle from the theft. The vehicle had cinder blocks and a floor jack inside and it was backed in to conceal the plate. Detectives made contact with the victim, and he gave them consent to leave the vehicle and conduct surveillance.

On 11/28/2023, Detectives were coming in to work and learned that the vehicle had been moved and were able to track the vehicle as it went to an apartment complex and stole four sets of wheels and tires.  The suspect then went to a storage unit near Charlie Brown Airfield where he offloaded the wheels and tires. Detectives set up surveillance while another obtained a search warrant for the storage units.

While they waited, the suspect approached and entered the storage unit where he was detained for further investigation.  Once the search warrant arrived, the wheels and tires belonging to the victims were located inside the storage unit.

Once the wheels and tires were located, Anthony Reeves (43 years old) of Atlanta was arrested for the thefts.  The case is still active and on-going.

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