An alleged boat bandit, accused of raiding a camp on a creek near Sandy Hook, was arrested on the Pearl River Sunday.
Brian Mitchell Statham, 44, of Foxworth remains in the Marion County Jail facing a charge of burglary of a dwelling.
The owner of the camp, Jack Warren Jr., praised the efforts of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and Marion County Sheriff’s Office to catch the perpetrator so quickly.
“Just the satisfaction of knowing the person is caught and knowing he’s not coming back is wonderful,” the Baton Rouge, La., resident, who has deep Marion County ties, said. “To know the people who are wearing the badges are doing their job and were able to catch someone on the river is pretty impressive.”
They also had help from a citizen who reported the crime, Shane Sumrall, who lives nearby and is married to Warren’s cousin. Sumrall said he and his 11-year-old son had ridden a four-wheeler to meet a group for a hog hunt early Sunday morning. They headed out of the swamp around 10 to get ready for church.
That’s when Sumrall spotted a boat tied up behind Warren’s camp on Sweetwater Creek. He thought maybe Warren was there for the weekend and a friend had pulled up to visit.
But he was on alert because someone had stolen things from his boat, which he keeps on the creek during fishing season, when he checked it Saturday afternoon: a battery, landing net, paddle, trot line stagings and more. Sweetwater Creek is not always accessible, but when the river is up like it is now boaters can easily reach it from the Pearl.
So Sumrall steered the four-wheeler down a gravel road in front of the camp and saw the front door easing shut very slowly.
“I knew right then something wasn’t right,” he said. “I just hurried up and got out of there.”
Warren, the owner of the camp, said he’s grateful that Sumrall came upon the situation and apparently spooked the burglar.
“He was going to take everything,” Warren said. “And when I say everything, he had the shower head screwed off. Pans, dishes, cast irons pots: Everything that was in the camp, he was going to take it.”
Sumrall went further to turn around so as to not rouse suspicion and told his son someone was in the camp and he needed to get the boy away from danger.
“When it first happened, it scared me to death seeing I had him with me. If I had not had him with me, I would have had (the burglar) right there; I would not have let him leave the camp,” Sumrall said.
The driver of the boat went slowly until he got to Sumrall’s boat landing and spotted Sumrall on the four-wheeler. Sumrall yelled at the boat driver to stop, but he sped away on the Pearl.
Sumrall said he saw the man go upstream 75 or 80 yards and stand up and begin throwing things out into the river. Sumrall said he presumes it was items that had been stolen from the camp.
The boat then headed down river, and Sumrall called 911.
Marion County Chief Deputy Jamie Singley said they have a good relationship with area game wardens and when the sheriff’s office contacted them they happened to be in the vicinity. They were able to intercept Statham on his boat within a matter of minutes.
“Anytime we need help they’re always glad to help out,” Singley said of the game wardens. “We just got blessed that they were in the area that morning.”
Statham, who has a lengthy criminal record, was on probation when he was arrested, according to the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
Sumrall said he’s had many people from the area call him and say they had had things stolen recently.
