Suspect arrested for allegedly stealing Forsyth Co. coroner’s car

A 27-year-old Riverdale man is in Forsyth County jail on charges he allegedly stole the county coroner's SUV from his home Oct. 23.

The vehicle has since been recovered and is being checked out for safety issues, according to authorities.

Capt. Paul Taylor of the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division said the suspect, Anthony Carmon, was arrested at the BP gas station on McFarland Parkway Oct. 26. Deputies were working on a tip received the day before that led them to Carmon, he said.

"We moved on it pretty quickly. He had the keys to the vehicle in his pocket," said Taylor. "He led us to the coroner's vehicle at his residence in Riverdale, so we recovered the car the same day."

Almost all of the $16,000 worth of equipment in the 2006 Ford Expedition, which was stolen from coroner Lauren McDonald's home in the Haw Creek subdivision off Trammel Road, has been recovered. The car contained valuable county owned radios, cameras and a lap top computer. That's not all. There was, of course, also a coroner's jumpsuit, a stretcher, 10 body bags worth $500 and a heavy duty Coroner's coat.

The only things still missing were McDonald's own clothes and a county jacket.

The coroner told deputies at the time of the theft he left the keys under the floorboard in the driver's seat. He said later because of the nature of the job, deputy coroners will often stop by his home in the middle of the night and take off with the SUV to be on scene as quickly as possible.

"It's a mistake on my part, and I'll tell you, I won't do it again," said McDonald. "Before this, I didn't even lock my doors [at home]. But when something like this happens, that changes everything."

Taylor said Carmon is tied to at least three other entering auto cases in the Haw Creek and neighboring The Gates subdivisions. He said Carmon was allegedly breaking into cars, and apparently hit the mother lode when he found the keys in the coroner's car.

"He knew it was some sort of law enforcement vehicle," said Taylor.

McDonald said all of the radios and equipment in the truck was well marked, which made it tough to unload.

"He'd stripped everything out of it," said McDonald. "We're still doing the inventory, but we've got all the expensive stuff back."

The coroner's office had copies of everything, so county residents saw no lag in service, said McDonald.

"We didn't miss anything," he said. 'It was just the headache of doing the paperwork."

Carmon is charged with theft by receiving stolen property, interference with government property and three counts of entering autos. All are felonies, said Taylor.

Bail is set for $23,001, according to a detention center spokesperson.
- www.northfulton.com

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