TOLEDO, OH ( Toledo News Now) - Police believe they may have caught the man responsible for a string of six car break-ins in West Toledo.
Thanks to community members in that neighborhood who were on the lookout for suspicious activity, 23- year old Christopher Bates was arrested early Friday morning.
A citizen saw Bates looking into vehicles, called 9-1-1 and Toledo police were able to arrest him. Bates not only has a criminal history, but at the time of arrest had a stolen GPS and a loaded gun on him.
"As of right now Mr. Bates is in custody for carrying a concealed weapon, weapons under disability those are both felonies, and also a misdemeanor charge of theft for the GPS unit," said Toledo Police Sgt. Joe Heffernan
Police believe Bates may be involved in some of the car-break-ins near the Douglas and Central area.
"We haven't completed all the follow-up we are doing, since it just happened this morning, but we do believe that there's a high probability that's he's the one that was involved, been responsible for some of these car break-ins in this neighborhood," said Sgt. Heffernan.
This is good news for Nick Amrhein.
"I think it's going to say a lot, showing that like if this is the guy that has been taking down all these different cars, the last six in the area, I think that shows a lot of our community coming together and making the call into the police this morning and catching this guy. It's huge," said Amrhein.
Amerhein, a photographer, had nearly $10,000 worth of camera equipment stolen from his car Monday night. Amerhein hopes some of his belongings will be recovered.
"I'm really in shock, like I really hope this is the guy that has my gear because I would really love to have it back, but on a personal level, it just makes me feel more safe," said Amrhein.
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