Crime & Safety

Parolee Wanted in Connection with West Cobb Theft

The theft is one of three in Cobb that may be connected.

Investigators with the Cobb County Police Department think a parolee from Norcross is involved in at least one of three thefts that may be connected.

A warrant was issued Thursday for the arrest of Angel Carmona Ortiz, who Cobb police said "acted as a look-out" during a Feb. 19 theft in West Cobb while another suspect broke into the victim's SUV and stole $4,417.

Ortiz was convicted of burglary in DeKalb County after a Sept. 9, 2003, incident and theft by shoplifting in Dawson County after a June 18, 2010, incident, according to Georgia Department of Corrections records. He was released from the Coffee Correctional Facility on Feb. 8, 2012.

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The string of Cobb thefts started Feb. 2, and they all had one common denominator: Someone was breaking into the cars of people who had just left area Wells Fargo Bank locations. 

Last month, a spokesman with the Cobb County Police Department sent surveillance images from all three Cobb incidents to metro Atlanta media outlets, and asked for the public's help in finding the man seen in all of the photos.

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In the first incident, the victim went to the Frey Road Waffle House after a trip to the Barrett Parkway Wells Fargo. Around the same time, the suspect came inside and sat down at a booth.

"When a waitress approached him, he stated that he was waiting for family members to arrive," said Sgt. Dana Pierce, the spokesman for the Cobb County Police Department. "A short time later, the victim heard his car alarm go off and just as he was about to go check on it, the male suspect got up from the booth he was sitting in and left in a car."

An undisclosed amount of cash inside the victim's car was gone.

A similar incident occurred 17 days later after a second male victim left the Dallas Highway Wells Fargo and went to a nearby SunTrust Bank. Footage from inside the SunTrust Bank shows the same man from that Feb. 2 theft at the Frey Road Waffle House, Pierce said. He was on his cell phone.

Ortiz is wanted in connection with this incident on an entering auto charge.

According to a Cobb County criminal warrant, Ortiz followed the victim into SunTrust shortly after the victim had made a bank transaction at the Wells Faro Bank. The accused remained on his cell phone while another suspect broke into the victim's vehicle.

"The accused acted as a look-out during the crime," according to the warrant.

The last theft came on March 3.

The third male victim went to the Barrett Parkway Wells Fargo before heading to the Chastain Meadows Parkway Walmart Supercenter. He returned to his vehicle, and discovered that his money was gone, too. Once again, footage from Walmart showed the same male suspect from the Feb. 2 and Feb. 19 thefts.

Anyone with information about any of these incidents is asked to call the Cobb County Criminal Investigations Unit at 770-590-5776.

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