Georgia
Speedy Gonzalez accused of $20K Walmart shoplifting spree across North Georgia
Speedy Gonzalez arrested in Georgia
Gainesville Police arrested a man accused of stealing over $20,000 worth of merchandise from several Walmart stores across north Georgia. Forty-year-old Speedy Gonzalez is now facing several felony shoplifting charges in several counties. And yes, that’s his real name.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. – A man with a memorable name and a lengthy criminal history is facing multiple felony charges.
Police say he shoplifted more than $20,000 worth of merchandise from Walmart stores across North Georgia.
What we know:
Gainesville police arrested 40-year-old Speedy Gonzalez—yes, that is his real name—after identifying him on surveillance footage at a Walmart on Shallowford Road in March. Gonzalez is accused of carrying out a series of thefts at stores in Hall, Barrow, Gwinnett, Habersham, White, and Lumpkin counties. “He does have a criminal history here in Gainesville,” said Gainesville Police Lt. Kevin Holbrook. “Again, he’s someone that we’ve dealt with numerous times.”
Investigators say Gonzalez used a simple but effective method to conceal his thefts. He allegedly stuffed high-priced, smaller items—such as nicotine products, diabetic test strips, and gum—into larger containers like trash cans or mailboxes. At checkout, he would pay only for the large item and leave the store with the concealed merchandise.
“Nicotine, gum, diabetic strips, you know, high-priced items, although smaller in nature,” Holbrook said. “He would then pick out an item from the shelf, such as a trash can. In one instance, it was a mailbox… Then take all those items, stick it into the box with the larger item, and then take that, pay for it, and walk out of the store.”
Gonzalez allegedly returned to the same Gainesville Walmart 10 days later, where officers arrested him. Police say they found more stolen merchandise inside his vehicle and began connecting him to similar thefts at other Walmart locations across the region.
“Barrow County, Gwinnett, other Hall County, Habersham, White, Lumpkin… Speedy Gonzalez was responsible for over 20 thefts around the North Georgia area,” Holbrook said. “Multiple Walmart stores, ranging upwards of $20,000 in theft.”
Dig deeper:
This isn’t Gonzalez’s first encounter with law enforcement. In 2020, Gwinnett County police arrested him for stealing checks from a mailbox in Suwanee and attempting to use them to purchase $3,000 worth of merchandise at a Home Depot.
What’s next:
Following his recent arrest, Gonzalez was initially booked into the Hall County Jail. He is currently being held in Barrow County as authorities across North Georgia work together to pursue additional charges.
SEE ALSO:
The Source: Gainesville Police Lt. Kevin Holbrook spoke with FOX 5’s Eric Mock for this story.
CRISP COUNTY, Ga. (WGXA) — Four teenagers are facing multiple felony charges for the murder of a 20-year-old man in Cordele last month.
On Friday, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests of 17-year-old Bianca Armani King-Knight, 17-year-old Kaylee Posey, and 19-year-old William Troy Posey all from Crisp County and 19-year-old Trenton Donnell Lane from Wilcox County, in connection to a shooting that left one person dead and another injured on the 1000 block of Dayton Road.
The GBI identified the victim as Correnthian Jeremiah Cooks, 20, who died at a local hospital after being found shot on around 6:45 p.m. on June 27. While the other male victim received treatment and was later released.
All four teenagers were charged with one count of felony murder and three counts of aggravated assault on June 29 and are currently being held at the Crisp County Jail.
The investigation remains ongoing, and anyone with information is urged to contact the GBI Regional Investigative Office in Americus at (229)-931-2439, the Cordele Police Department at (229) 273-3102 or submit an anonymous tip online.
Stick with WGXA as we learn more and keep you ready for what’s next.
Georgia
“Operation Southern Slow Down” returns to target speeding drivers across Georgia and Florida
Heading out on the road for a little summer vacation? Law enforcement agencies across the South have a warning: Slow down or face consequences.
The ninth annual “Operation Southern Slow Down” will run from July 13 to 19 across Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
All five states and local law enforcement agencies will be taking part in the speed enforcement and awareness campaign, which officials say is designed to prevent crashes and save lives by reminding drivers of the dangers of speeding and reckless driving.
During the time period, drivers will see more law enforcement on roads across all five Southern states.
Last year’s operation ended with nearly 53,000 citations and warnings for speeding, 2,230 for reckless driving, and over 3,000 for violating distracted driving laws. Over 1,400 drivers were arrested on DUI charges, including 501 in Georgia.
“Operation Southern Slow Down” began in 2017 in an effort to reduce crashes and save lives. Federal crash data shows that speed was a factor in one out of five fatal traffic crashes in Georgia from 2020 to 2024. A 2023 report by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety found that over half of those killed or seriously injured in multi-vehicle crashes where speed was a factor were not the speeding driver.
“Unsafe driver behaviors like speeding are a major contributor to fatalities and serious injuries on our roadways,” said Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared W. Perdue, P.E. “Remember that your actions behind the wheel can have life-altering impacts: slow down and drive responsibly to help get everyone to their destinations safely.”
Authorities say drivers should always wear a seat belt and make sure to give others who are traveling at high speeds on the roads plenty of space.
ATLANTA – At least ten police officers across Georgia have been arrested and charged with misusing the Flock camera database for personal reasons, adding to growing privacy concerns about the technology.
The cameras, usually mounted to a black pole, record license plates and other data of whoever passes them.
Georgia police database tracking
What we know:
A series of recent arrests has exposed the misuse of Flock license-plate-reading cameras by police officers throughout the state.
In Greene County, Deputy Quin’sha Goss was fired on Tuesday and charged with misusing the system.
The recent arrests include five police officers in Albany, who were also charged earlier this week.
That’s alongside a lieutenant, a sergeant and a deputy in Cherokee County charged last month with violating their oath.
System audits flag searches
What they’re saying:
Flock Co-founder Paige Todd stated that many recent arrests resulted from departments utilizing a new audit assistance tool that automatically flags unusual searches.
“In this case where misuse happened, the technology itself was not creating the misuse. It was it was human beings,” Todd told FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo.
Todd argued that the public safety benefits of the technology heavily outweigh individual instances of human misconduct.
Todd explained, “best way to prevent misuse is now, every member of law enforcement out there knows that this audit exists,”
Todd added that the system has successfully helped track down thousands of individuals across the country.
“We, I believe, solve about a million crimes with our technology,” she said. “10,000 missing people have gone home because of it. This feels like pretty small in comparison.”
Privacy concerns trigger pushback
The other side:
The ACLU of Georgia called the incidents a critical wakeup call regarding constitutional protections and tracking limits. Christopher Bruce of the ACLU of Georgia said, “Jeopardizing your civil rights and civil liberties is never just an unfortunate event. You have constitutional rights, especially a right to privacy. And the question is who polices the police?”
Information security analyst Peter Tran noted that the network relies heavily on automated data collection.
“It uses AI,” Tran said.
Tran said many are uneased by the logging searchable personal data into a nationwide database.
“It becomes a privacy and security issue. So, you’re whereabouts where you shopped, your name, your address,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Dunwoody sets ‘guardrails’ for Flock surveillance cameras use
The blowback has prompted dozens of U.S. communities to end their contracts.
Videos have circulated on social media instructing people how to tear them down or disable them.
In Barrow County, the sheriff said three Flock cameras were recently damaged there.
The sheriff said damage to the devices could be considered a felony.
The Source: The information in this story is based on original reporting by FOX 5’s Rob DiRienzo, who interviewed Flock co-founder Paige Todd, ACLU of Georgia representative Christopher Bruce, and security analyst Peter Tran, as well as tracking data from local sheriff offices.
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