By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
June 6, 2002
Two Lauderdale County teen-agers were arrested and charged Wednesday with the burglary of Martin Grocery on Newton Martin Road in northwest Lauderdale County.
Chester L. Busby, 17, was released on a $5,000 bond. Maj. Ward Calhoun of the Lauderdale County Sheriff's Department said a 14-year-old, whose name was withheld because he is a juvenile, was still in custody.
Calhoun said both suspects could face other charges once an arson investigation is complete because the Martin Grocery was damaged by fire.
At about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday, Lauderdale County received a fire call to the grocery store. The Martin, Collinsville and Bailey volunteer fire departments responded.
About five minutes later, on his way to the scene to help, Lauderdale County Deputy David Rosenbaum stopped a blue and silver, 1992 Chevrolet extended cab truck for a traffic violation.
Busby, the passenger, and the unnamed juvenile, the driver, were taken into custody. A citizen told Rosenbaum he had seen the truck at the grocery store at the time the fire was discovered.
Calhoun would not say what items were taken from the store. But he said items found in the truck were consistent with items taken from the store.
Calhoun said the fire in the store was set in several locations inside of a game room. He described the damage as light to moderate, mainly due to smoke.