Repeat Offender Arrested By Deputies
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Deputies recovered a small Sentry safe (above) that was hidden in the dirt below some pine needles near the suspect’s house (left photo). The cash inside was long gone.
ENID – A Tallahatchie County man sentenced to serve three years for stealing a Viking gas grill was arrested for new charges in Yalobusha County just weeks before Circuit Judge Jimmy McClure handed down the sentence.
Sheriff Jerimaine Gooch reported Larry Wayne McGee was sentenced on Feb. 25 in Tallahatchie County for stealing the grill valued at over $5,000 in 2022. In January McGee was arrested in Yalobusha County for grand larceny and burglary after stealing cash and other items from a home on Hwy. 51 near the Panola/Yalobusha County line in the northwestern edge of the county. Gooch reported the burglary occurred at a residence on Dec. 30 and costume jewelry, a jewelry box and a small safe containing $10,000 in cash was stolen.
Gooch said deputies questioned McGee about the crime after receiving a tip that he may have been in the vicinity of the residence when the burglary was committed and that he had been bragging about winning a large amount of money at a casino. Deputies contacted McGee and asked him to come to the sheriff’s department for questioning.
Deputies were assisted by officers with Mississippi Department of Corrections, as McGee was on probation for an earlier conviction. They checked his vehicle and house in connection and found guns, including one that was reported stolen out of Greenwood. They also found alleged methamphetamine at his residence in Tallahatchie County and incriminating evidence on his phone placing him at the residence when the burglary was committed and along with multiple hunting violations.
“He is a prior convicted felon and is not supposed to possess a firearm. There were pictures on his phone of him holding deer in the middle of the night on the side of the road, along with other hunting violations.
McGee ultimately confessed to the crime, telling Chief Deputy Thomas West that he broke into the house hoping he could find a gun to hunt with.
“He saw the safe under the bed and took it. He had no idea that the cash was inside it,” West said.
Deputies recovered the safe and papers that were inside the safe after McGee took them to a secluded spot in the woods across from his house where he had buried the evidence. The money was not recovered, with over half of it allegedly lost during a trip to the casino.
Gooch reported the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks is investigating the alleged hunting violations.
“There was a deer shot with a crossbow near the outlet channel at Enid Lake. The deceased deer was left with the crossbow bolt still stuck in it. We believe McGee is responsible for this,” West added.
McGee is current in custody in the Yalobusha County Detention Center. In addition to the conviction in February, he also has a lengthy list of prior convictions.
