Theodore Jackson, 63, and Margret Pulliam, 62, both of Decatur, were arrested on Jones Road, near Clay and Austell roads, after being seen trying to take a mattress from a homeowner's front yard, Austell Mayor Joe Jerkins said. He said a woman spotted the pair earlier in the week rummaging around and wrote down their automobile tag number and called police.
They were arrested Wednesday after being reported again in the area, he said. They are charged with theft, criminal trespassing and loitering. They remained in Cobb County Jail Thursday on $5,000 bonds.
Jerkins said police have leads on a pawn shop that was broken into during the flooding early last week and other reports of looting at homes have since been filed.
"The people have already lost everything they had," the mayor said. "We aren't going to hold back on any charges. It's bad enough to steal things, but in this situation - it's just not right."
The mayor said, "So far, we haven't had a big problem," but police continue to patrol the hard hit areas, looking out for possible looting.
The majority of flood-ravaged, critically-damaged homes and businesses throughout the county are in Austell. The city of Powder Springs and other parts of unincorporated south Cobb were also seriously impacted. Fortunately, there have not been any reports of local looting outside the city of Austell.
Lt. Matt Boyd said there have been no reports of looting in Powder Springs, and "we're trying to do everything we can to make sure it doesn't happen."
He said Powder Springs police are "heavily patrolling" flood-effected areas for looters.
Cobb Police spokesman Officer Joe Hernandez said, "Looting in unincorporated Cobb has not been an issue."
"We have devoted several special units to the effected areas to increase manpower to stay ahead of these problems," he said. "We are assisting the cities with additional officers as well. Cobb has not had any looting arrests.
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