VALDOSTA, Ga. – On July 16, 2019 at approximately 9:15 a.m., Valdosta Police Department officers responded to El Cazador, located at 1600 North Ashley Street, in reference to a burglary that had occurred at the business.

According to an incident report from VPD, though surveillance video, officers observed that around 3:10 a.m., an unknown white male forced entry into the business and took and undisclosed amount of money.  The reporting officer quickly compared this offender’s description to a burglary that had occurred at approximately 2:35 a.m., at Zacadoos nearby on North Ashley Street.  The surveillance video from Zacadoos showed the same offender forcibly entering the business and taking an undisclosed amount of money. 

Officers quickly issued out a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) for the offender.  Within hours of the issued BOLO, a Patrol Captain located the offender walking in the 400 block of North Troup Street.  Ronnie Campbell, 42, of Valdosta, was positively identified as the offender in both of these cases.  Campbell was arrested without incident and transported to Lowndes County Jail.

On July 17, detectives from the Valdosta Police Department Burglary Unit interviewed Campbell, and they have connected him to the July 15 burglary at Betty’s Diner in the 2100 block of North Ashley Street.  During this incident, entry was forced into this business and an undisclosed amount of money was taken.

Campbell is being held at Lowndes County Jail on three counts of felony burglary, and further charges are pending.

“Our patrol officers did an outstanding job of linking the two burglaries together and getting information out quickly to the rest of the department, which resulted in an arrest,” stated VPD Cheif Leslie Manahan. “This was a great team effort by members of our department to get this offender off the streets.”

If anyone has any information on this case call the Valdosta Police Department Detective Bureau at 229-293-3145.