The Athens Police Department responded to a break-in at Keith Chapman Jeweler located at 8 S. Court St. April 1 at 5:37 a.m.
Once officers arrived on the scene, they found 36-year-old Ben Blackburn, who was later found to be on methamphetamine, leaving the business. Blackburn began to flee on foot from officers and was then arrested by officers behind Lucky’s Sports Tavern, located at 11. N. Court Street, at 5:40 a.m.
During the break-in, the man destroyed cases and displays and stole jewelry, which the Athens Police Department recovered.
After being arrested, Blackburn was taken to the hospital and then to jail. When Blackburn appeared in court, Athens County Municipal Court Judge Todd Grace released him without bail and required him to submit to a blood test to test for blood-borne diseases in response to claims Blackburn made.
Bob Prebe, the owner of Uptown Realty Group, said these types of crimes do not happen often in Athens. Most of the crimes Prebe sees are drunken acts and brick thefts.
“It seems to me that was a targeted kind of situation, like, ‘Oh, I'm gonna break into this jewelry store, and perhaps, maybe it'll be worth my while if I cause all this destruction and damage,’” Prebe said.
City Service-Safety Director Andy Stone said the incident was brazen, especially with someone breaking the front window of a store on the city’s main street.
“I can see where that would create some shock,” Stone said. “The guy got caught within minutes ultimately of doing it. He indicated to the officers the next day that he was high on meth when he did it and didn’t remember anything about it.”
Keith Chapman, the owner of Keith Chapman Jeweler, did not respond to a request for comment.
Hearing about the incident was hard for Prebe. Crimes such as these have heavy economic ramifications on businesses Uptown.
“These are local, small businesses that operate on a very thin margin, and that kind of loss isn't even something you can run through your insurance,” Prebe said. “That's just money right out of your pocket, and for a small business, that's tough.”
APD Chief of Police Nick Magruder wrote in an email that crime has been down in Athens over the last two years.
“Athens is one of the safest cities in the state and in the country,” Stone said. “As far as we're concerned, we'll continue to deal with the crime that we do have, but I really don't think people should be particularly worried.”
Stone said much of the crime in the city is driven by drug abuse or alcohol.
“Alcohol related crime — assaults, fights, sexual assault and that sort of thing — that happens surrounding the college demographic, so you're 18-24 years old,” Stone said. “Then, I think that the poverty-driven crime, drug crime, is probably slightly older.”
Stone said there have been some previous planned crimes in Athens by groups, such as the theft of cash from parking meters and the burglary of drug stores, but they are very rare.
“I don't think (organized crimes) is something that we've seen in the last few years,” Stone said. “By and large, we're talking about folks from the area that are hitting things that are crimes of opportunity.”
Businesses can discourage crime in Athens by locking their doors and installing alarms. Stone said cameras have made it easier to catch petty thefts.
“Actually, I think a couple of times I've been asked to view the camera feed (by OUPD),” Prebe said. “I think that for a lot of Uptown businesses, if they don't have a camera system, they really should. It's they're relatively inexpensive these days to run and certainly come in handy when it comes to situations like this.”
Prebe said there is always a concern of theft in Athens; however, he feels safe in Athens at all times.
“I think the students are better,” Prebe said. “They're better at behaving, they're nicer and they're more considerate. That's been my experience, and we've seen that in Uptown with just the way that I just don't feel like people are setting couches on fire anymore or the kind of things that happened in the early 2000s or when I went to school here in the late ‘90s.”
