Sheriff: Hunt for 'career criminal'

FAYETTE COUNTY, Ga. - Fayette County deputies said a man wanted for burglaries in Cobb and Cherokee counties has resurfaced on the south side of metro Atlanta and two businesses are out thousands of dollar because of it.

Authorities there were only 15 minutes behind his trail recently when he allegedly committed in Fayetteville. Deputies were called to a Lowe’s store in Fayetteville after Robert John Walter was accused of walking out with thousands of dollars in power tools.

Authorities in Fayette would later learn they weren't the only ones on his trail after they discovered other agencies were hunting him too.

“He is just a thief and a burglar,” Sheriff Barry Babb of Fayette County said.

The search for Walter brought a deputy to the Sunnyside Pawn Shop on State Road 85 in Fayette County where owner Mac Sutton 15 minute before had just bought the tools Walter is accused of stealing from Lowe's.

Sutton provided FOX 5 with snapshot of Walter in his pawn shop with the stolen leaf blower. He’s wearing a Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets hat and authorities said used it as part of his scam.

“He told such a story. And you just won’t believe that it couldn’t be true,” Sutton said.

Police suspect that with law enforcement looking for him on the north side of town, Walter targeted a new location.