Atlanta airport prowler makes up bizarre story when caught trying to to enter police cars
Prowling arrest at Atlanta's airport
Police arrested a McDonough man at Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after he allegedly tried to open the door handles of several cars, including a city of Atlanta vehicle. Even more bizarre, the suspect told officers he was on a scavenger hunt when they confronted him.
ATLANTA - Atlanta police said they are making progress at the world's busiest airport when it comes to slowing down the number of cars that are stolen.
Police have made several security changes and have arrested five suspects for stealing cars since the year started.
Officers said the latest suspect claimed he was on a scavenger hunt when he was confronted.
"He was trying to steal from the police," Councilman Michael Julian Bond said.
An APD officer noticed a McDonough man trying the handle of a government car earlier this month.
The suspect was in the airport parking area where Atlanta police officers put their personal cars, according to Councilman Bond.
The prowling suspect, Marcello Magalhaes, had a bizarre excuse for his behavior.
"He caught an Uber to the airport. He told a story that his fiancé purchased him a vehicle for his birthday – it was not his birthday – and that she had left it at the airport in a scavenger hunt," Bond said.
An APD major told FOX 5 that investigators are now trying to find out if Magalhaes is connected to a larger, more sophisticated ring of car thieves that have been targeting the world's busiest airport all year, often making their own keys.
"With the auto theft issues that we are having at the airport, it is due to criminals being able to create keys easily, programming keys easily … within five minutes." Major Kelley Collier explained.
The major said several security changes have been made and officers have arrested and charged five suspects with stealing cars.
Collier and Bond said they were looking forward to an 30 additional officers expected to help with parking lot security, the unhorsed, and fake Uber drivers.
"The airport has increased in size, within its footprint about three times the size and intensity than it was when the Jackson administration cut the ribbon on it at the end of the 1970's," Bond said.
Those 30 officers can't see to come fast enough. Bond predicted they would be in place by the summer.