A Columbus man is in custody for burglary after breaking into two apartments by crawling through a hole he kicked between two attics.
Eugene Stewart, 31, is in the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing, according to a press release from the Columbus Police Department. CPD officers arrested him Sunday after responding to a scene about a possible burglary at an apartment complex on Limbo Drive off Highway 69.
Authorities say Stewart had broken into a residence and, when officers arrived on the scene, refused to come out.
Stewart barricaded himself in the apartment while officers tried to talk him into coming outside, the press release said. Eventually CPD SWAT officers used a key to enter the apartment, where Stewart had apparently crawled into the attic.
When police searched the attic, they found Stewart had kicked a hole into the attic of the next door apartment and crawled through it.
After police contacted it with the second residence’s owner, officers entered the second apartment where they found Stewart hiding in a closet.
Stewart has been charged with two counts of burglary and was denied bond because of a hold from the Mississippi Department of Corrections, according to the press release. He was previously convicted of three felonies in Lowndes County, including two counts of possession of cocaine in 2012 and an attempted burglary of an automobile in 2005.
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