Police follow trail of stolen Redbox movies
Published 2:34 pm Thursday, June 6, 2013
An East Brewton man allegedly caught with stolen movies and games from a Redbox machine was arrested and charged with theft of property and criminal mischief Wednesday after a joint investigation by Atmore and East Brewton police.
On May 13, Atmore police began investigating a complaint that a Redbox machine outside Winn-Dixie had been broken into, with 567 movies and games stolen.
Security camera video showed the suspect was a white male driving an older model white Chevrolet pickup with blue doors.
On June 3, Atmore Investigator Robby Williams was in the Brewton area and noticed the vehicle being driven by the suspect.
Williams contacted East Brewton Police Chief Kenny Brazile, who had just received information that an East Brewton resident had a large quantity of Redbox movies.
“Brazile was provided still photos from the security video and was able to positively identify the violator as Shawn Daniel Mealer, 24, of East Brewton,” Williams said.
On Wednesday, Williams, Brazile and East Brewton Investigator Andy Miles drove to Mealer’s residence where they recovered some of the stolen DVDs, according to police reports.
Police said they believe many of the DVDs had been sold or disseminated to others.
Mealer was arrested by East Brewton police and charged with with theft of property in the first degree and criminal mischief in the first degree.
Anyone who has knowledge of the whereabouts or possession of any of these Redbox DVDs is asked to call Williams at (251) 368-9141 or Brazile at (251) 867-4864.