Zakary King
A man who is suspected of breaking into multiple storage units is now in custody.
Police were alerted of a possible in-progress burglary on Friday evening when the victim said he was closing up business when he saw someone pull into the complex in a box truck. The victim decided to do one more check before he left, and noticed the suspect had parked right next to a storage unit that had already been broken into several times.
When the suspect saw the business owner driving toward him, he attempted to leave. The owner saw the lock had been cut off, and he caught up with the suspect in the box truck. The owner said he then called police, and continued to follow the suspect on Highway 58. The victim said the suspect pulled into a parking lot and jumped out of the truck while carrying a red bag as he ran.
Police arrived at the scene and spoke with the victim, who gave a detailed description of the suspect and where he was running. The victim went back to the storage unit and saw that the suspect had returned to the property, so he called police again. Two officers arrived and caught the suspect, Zakary King, 31, behind a shopping center.
Police determined the truck he had been driving was stolen. Police interviewed King at the police service center, and he told them he stole the truck from East Ridge. He said he broke into the storage unit and tried to take what he could before the owner caught him. Police said he admitted to breaking into that unit in December as well.
He told police he moved the stolen items into a vacant unit with the intent to come back later. He said those items were located by an employee and given back to the owner of those items.
Police said he also confessed to using another stolen truck to break into a storage unit at Pack Rat storage facility, where he broke into another man’s unit and took games, books, clothes and other items. King was taken to the county jail and charged with theft of property and burglary of a business.