Our friends at the Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) tell us accused thief Albert Dobbs Sams, 24, is in custody for pawning musical instruments stolen from local churches.
During the week of March 9, 2015, a burglary occurred at Hebron Baptist Church at 202 Hebron Church Road in Dacula. The instrumental music pastor reported that four electronic keyboards and power cords were stolen from the stage in the main worship center. The value of the items stolen was more than $6,000.
On March 10, Albert Dobbs Sams pawned two of the stolen keyboards at Norcross Pawn and Title at 5476 Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Norcross. He received $700 for the items.
On March 11, Mr. Sams pawned the other two stolen keyboards at Dynasty Pawn located at 5075 Jimmy Carter Boulevard, Norcross. He received $800 for those items.
The lead detective in this case conducted a search of the Business Watch International Pawn Registry Database (BWI database) on March 16 and located the four recently pawned items using their serial numbers.
Both pawn shops were informed of the original incident and agreed to pursue criminal charges against Mr. Sams for Theft by Deception.
The stolen keyboards were given back to Hebron Baptist Church.
On March 16, a burglary was reported to Duluth Police Department. This incident occurred at Duluth Presbyterian Church (3700 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth). An amplifier was stolen. Another BWI search was conducted attempting to locate the stolen amplifier. That item was found at Premier Pawn (1455 Pleasant Hill Road, Lawrenceville). Mr. Sams allegedly received $100 for the item.
Albert Dobbs Sams has been charged with 2 counts of Burglary and 3 counts of Theft by Deception. He turned himself into the Gwinnett County Jail on April 3 and is still currently in custody.
Mr. Sams has pawned assorted musical band equipment over the past several months. However, GCPD doesn’t have victims for the other pawned items. The lead detective believes that the victims of these burglaries or thefts may be other local churches. If a church feels that they could possibly be a victim of a theft or burglary of their musical equipment, please contact Detective Poppe at 770 513-5343 or 770 513-5300.
There are likely other cases in Roswell, Norcross, and Johns Creek related to Albert Dobbs Sams, according to the Gwinnett County Police Department.
Click Here to Contact GCPD about Musical Instruments Stolen
