A man was arrested with stolen items outside a Center Grove area home, and investigators are trying to determine if he was involved in thefts of gifts from inside a home on Christmas Eve.
On Dec. 24, sheriff’s deputies were called to two homes on Hornaday Drive, near Stones Crossing and Morgantown roads, where vehicles had been rummaged through and someone got inside a home and stole multiple Christmas presents, according to Johnson County Sheriff’s Office reports.
At one home, residents found their vehicle had been rummaged through and their garage door opener was missing, the report said.
Keys to all of their vehicles were missing, along with Christmas gifts for family members and their children, their children’s coats, a purse and wallet, two computers and gifts a resident had purchased for his wife, the report said. A resident at a nearby home also reported a handicap parking placard stolen from a vehicle.
On Christmas, residents at a home in the same area reported a suspicious vehicle and a man going into garages. Another resident on nearby Mullinix Road reported the man was at their home a short time later and tried to come inside, then refused to leave, according to the report.
Sheriff’s deputies spoke with Robert D. Demoss, 31, of Indianapolis, who said he was at the home on Mullinix Road to ask a question. Demoss matched the description of the man seen at other homes that same day, the report said.
The resident on Mullinix Road found a vehicle had been gone through and then found an identification for a resident on Stones Crossing Road inside the vehicle that was not there before. Deputies spoke to the resident on Stones Crossing Road, who told investigators her ID had been inside her home, and deputies also found a garage door opener that had been in a vehicle was now inside the home, the report said.
Investigators are looking into whether Demoss was connected to the thefts reported on Christmas Eve, Sheriff Doug Cox said.
Deputies also found needles and methamphetamine inside Demoss’ vehicle, the report said.
Demoss, 190 Shiloh Creek Way, was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine, residential entry, possession of paraphernalia, theft, burglary and unlawful entry of a motor vehicle. He was taken to the Johnson County jail and held on $6,000 bond.
