ActionNews17 posted on September 02, 2010 22:05
AMITE---An Amite man was charged with stealing $1,000 in dimes from the offices of a coin-operated laundry where he works.
Billy Ray Smith, 45, of Puleston Road in Amite, was charged with burglary after an Amite Police investigation determined he had broken into the offices of the Speedy Clean where he works and stole a canvas bag that contained $1,000 in dimes.
Amite Police Chief Jerry Trabona says that on the morning of Aug. 28, Smith allegedly went through the warehouse and pried open the office door to steal the money. Smith then left out the front door of the cleaners, located at 214-A on West Oak Street in Amite.
Smith met up with a man on S. 3rd Street and asked him for a ride in exchange for $40. The man agreed and brought Smith home.
The suspect went inside his house and returned with a sack of dimes which he gave to the driver, who later cashed in the coins at the Amite Winn-Dixie.
Trabona said that when the driver cashed in the coins at an automated coin machine in the grocery, there was both a computerized time-stamp of the transaction and security camera footage of the person using the machine. Police were able to track the case back to the driver, who was ultimately given more than $200 in coins, and he led authorities to Smith.
Police charged Smith with burglary, Trabona said.