Sheriff’s deputies tracked a teen suspected of stealing items from a pickup truck into the woods behind West Bainbridge Elementary School on Monday afternoon.

Shortly after noon Monday, deputies responded to a 911 dispatch along the 1000 block of Zorn Road about someone breaking into a pickup truck. Workers at a nearby business saw the youth, got a good description of his clothing and chased him into the woods behind the school, said Capt. Chip Nix, an investigator with the Sheriff’s Office.

Capt. Nix and other deputies set up a perimeter around the last location the teen had been spotted.

As Nix walked along a trail under power lines, he saw the teen, later identified as Walter Jordan Hodge III, 17, of 175 Melissa Drive, Bainbridge, coming out into a clearing. Nix said Hodge matched the worker’s description and was carrying items from the pickup truck, including an extension cord, work gloves and a pry bar.

Hodge was charged with theft by taking and entering an auto.

Storm causes minor damage

Heavy rainfall on Monday and Tuesday only caused minor damage, including a brief loss of power in downtown Bainbridge.

Although only 0.71 inches of rain was recorded officially by the U.S. Geological Service’s Flint River streamgage, a heavy downpour that lasted about 30 minutes possibly dumped 1 to 2 inches of rain on parts of Decatur County at around 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to citizen reports.

The storm also brought gusting winds and lightning.

Bainbridge Public Safety officers responded to multiple storm-related incidents, including sparking transformers along Washington Street, part of a large tree that fell at the intersection of Scott and Washington streets and a large oak tree that fell on a picnic pavilion at Cheney Griffin Park, destroying it.

Both BPS and Sheriff’s deputies kept busy responding to reports of fallen tree limbs on both Monday and Tuesday afternoons.