Smyth arrests lead to stolen property

Arrests last week during a breaking and entering turned up evidence of earlier thefts, according to the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office.

In a release Monday, the sheriff’s office said on the afternoon of Jan. 22, deputies were dispatched to a possible breaking and entering in progress at Billings’ Junk Yard, 287 Brown’s Subdivision Road, Marion

“An eyewitness was advising the dispatchers of the events as they happened,” the sheriff’s office said.

Overhearing the call, two officers from Marion Police Department also responded. Sheriff’s office Sgt. Alan Morgan and MPD Sgt. Wes Thomas arrived to find the vehicle the caller described to a dispatcher still on the Billings property. Dale Eugene Atwell, 41, of Marion, and Jason Dale Martin, 35, of Sugar Grove, were taken into custody, the sheriff’s office said.

Atwell and Martin were charged with breaking and entering, petit larceny and trespassing. Atwell was held without bond and remained at Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon. Martin was released on a $2,500 bond. Both men are scheduled to appear Feb. 8 in Smyth County General District Court, the sheriff’s office said.

“As a result of this arrest, additional information was obtained and resulted in the recovery of stolen items from no less than two other incidents,” the release said. A search warrant was served at Atwell’s home where deputies and MPD officers “recovered stolen property from an open investigation of a breaking and entering of a residence on Freedom Tabernacle Lane, Atkins, which occurred in November of 2011.”

The release said Brian Corey Hoover of Greenway Avenue, Marion, was arrested in connection with this investigation. Hoover is held on a $3,500 bond at the regional jail in Abingdon and is to appear in Smyth County General District Court March 8.

The sheriff’s office said other charges are pending further investigation in several other cases.