Police seek suspect in break-in, thefts

Police are looking for a man caught on surveillance video at a Center Grove area grocery store trying to use a stolen credit card.

The credit card was stolen in a nearby home break-in, two hours earlier. Police said they believe the man in the video, and at least one other, are also connected to an attempted break-in and a theft that happened last month in the Center Grove area.

A man attempted to use a stolen credit card at a grocery store on State Road 135 on Dec. 19. Earlier in the night, someone stole items from a home and a vehicle and tried to get into another home within a mile of the grocery store, and police believe all three reports are connected, Johnson County Sheriff’s Office Detective James Bryant said.

After 10 p.m., someone walked into an unlocked house on Woodsway Drive and stole items off of kitchen counters and tables, including a purse, prescription medication and an e-reader, police reported. The man did not stay in the house for long and the residents were upstairs when he broke in, but didn’t hear him, Bryant said.

That same night, someone stole a hairbrush and a gun from a truck parked in an unlocked garage on Woodland Streams Drive. And a resident reported someone tried to enter a home on Golden Grove Road. When the homeowner turned the porch light on, the man ran away, Bryant said.

“That’s just someone looking for opportunity, and they found it,” Bryant said.

The credit card the man tried to use at the grocery store was stolen from the home on Woodsway Drive, Bryant said. All of the incidents happened within a two-hour period, he said.

If anyone has information, they are asked to call Bryant at 346-4618.