Bangs Police arrested 17-year-old Jerry Marney of Brownwood Saturday after police say he refused to stop and led officers on a short chase a few miles outside of the city. Brown County Sheriff’s Deputy RC Lehman assisted Bangs Police Officer Troy Grusendorf in stopping the vehicle. When Marney stopped for officers, he was removed from the car at gunpoint according to Brown County Sheriff’s reports.
The report states that Marney confessed to officers that he had stolen the Ford truck he was driving from a residence at Lake Brownwood around midnight. The report also states that deputies learned that he had broken into another car at the property where he found the trucks keys and then stole the vehicle. Marney was charged with Evading Arrest, Burglary of a Vehicle, and Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and taken to the Brown County Jail.On February 14th, BCSO Deputy Michelle Holder responded to another address on Ireland Drive located in the same Lake Brownwood neighborhood where three cars were reported to have been broken into on Friday or Saturday evening. Stolen from these vehicles were three sets of keys that went to three vehicles belonging to a car dealership. The report states that these keys were found by Deputy Holder and BCSO Investigator Hill to be with the personal property of Jerry Marney while he was being held at the jail.
Investigators also suspect there is a connection to another vehicle, a 2006 Pontiac G6, which had been stolen on New Year’s Eve from Shannon Drive which is also in the same neighborhood where the other burglaries and theft had occurred. That vehicle was later located in the Austin area, but investigators had no suspect. Investigators discovered that Marney has connections to the Austin area. Additional charges are expected to be filed for three more Burglaries of Vehicles, and Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle for the New Year’s Eve theft.