A crime wave that has been plaguing the rural residents of Decatur County for months finally came to a crashing halt on Friday, Jan. 9, with the arrests of three individuals in Franklin County.

Troy Custer, 38; Ashley Custer, 22; Dale Hunter, 34 and an unnamed juvenile were allegedly caught in the act of burglarizing a home in Franklin County, Friday. The three were arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department and booked at the local jail, where charges are pending. The minor was taken to a juvenile detention center. Both Troy Custer and Dale Hunter were local Decatur County residents from the Lake Santee area, according to Decatur County Sheriff Daryl Templeton.

Ashley Custer was charged with possession of stolen property and Troy Custer was charged with burglary, while Dale Hunter was charged with drug possession.

Beginning in October of 2008, the Decatur County Sheriff’s Department (DCSD) started to investigate a rash of audacious daylight burglaries that targeted county residents. According to Templeton, at least 18 residential burglaries had occurred in the county since October. Many of those occurred around Christmas and some had happened recently. The DCSD had launched an investigation and had suspects but had not located the alleged burglars.

When Troy Custer, Hunter, Ashley Custer and the juvenile entered a residence in Franklin County on Friday, the homeowners immediately called 911 and the local sheriff’s department caught them red-handed inside the home, Templeton said.

Following their arrests, a search warrant was obtained for the stolen items. Several of those items were found to be from local Decatur County burglaries, tying the two cases together over the weekend, Templeton said. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the group likely had also pilfered goods and burglarized homes in Bartholomew County, he noted.

Among the stolen possessions were guns, jewelry, laptop computers, television sets and other miscellaneous items. The goods were all found at a home in Laurel.

“They were taking anything they could get their hands on to sell,” Templeton explained.