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Suspected burglar found near Cumming with Hank Aaron-autographed bats
michael jones
Jones

CUMMING — A 32-year-old Loganville man was recently arrested on suspicion of burglarizing a home near Lake Lanier and taking, among other items, three baseball bats signed by famed Atlanta Braves slugger Hank Aaron.

Michael Daniel Jones was charged earlier this month with first-degree burglary and probation violation, according to Epifanio Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office.

A sheriff’s deputy reportedly saw Jones walking north on Pilgrim Point Road, east of Cumming, toward a nearby home while carrying two book bags and a garbage bag. The latter contained the bats, which were protected in clear tubes.

The deputy reportedly knew Jones was on probation and thought his activity suspicious, so he stopped to chat with him.

Asked about the bags, Jones supposedly told the deputy they weren’t his and that a friend asked him to pick them up from the side of the road.

According to an incident report, Jones did not know the friend’s last name or where he lived.

A name on the inside of one of the bags led deputies to a recently burglarized home on nearby Linger Longer Road.

Due to his violation of probation, Jones is being held at the Forsyth County Jail without bond.

He had been on probation since 2014, Rodriguez said, stemming from an arrest for driving under the influence.

Jones also was arrested in August on a felony charge of theft by receiving stolen property.