Three men charged with home invasion in Banks

Published 3:20 pm Tuesday, September 18, 2018

A Banks couple were alerted early Monday morning by an electronic security device that someone else had entered their home.

According to Pike County Sheriff Russell Thomas, the homeowners discovered that two men had entered their basement.

“(The husband) fired his weapon and the subject fled into the woods,” Thomas said. After the suspects fled, the residents called in a burglary in progress to the Sheriff’s Department at approximately 1 a.m.

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Deputies searched the property and found one suspect lying in the bushes near  the suspects’ vehicle and two more were found on County Road 6643 around 7 a.m. All three suspects were taken into custody.

Thomas said 18-year-old Anthony Woods, of Troy,  told the homeowner that he “would have shot him if the rifle hadn’t jammed.”

Thomas said the other two suspects told deputies in an interview that Woods was instructed to “shoot anyone that causes any problems.”

A black gym bag reportedly found inside the suspects’ vehicle included a pill bottle that contained three small bags of a white powder that tested positive for cocaine. The victim said a black tool bag found inside the car had been taken from his home taken from him in theft on July 9.

Craigory Newsome Baker, 24, of Troy, was charged with fourth-degree reception of stolen property in connection with the stolen tool bag. Baker was also charged with first-degree burglary and probation violation. He was incarcerated on a $51,000 bond, but has no bond to get him out of jail on a probation violation.

Khalil Raheem Cummings, 22, of Troy, was charged with first-degree burglary, possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was booked into the Pike County Jail on a $52,500 bond.

Woods was charged with first-degree burglary and was booked on $50,000 bond.

The same Banks home had been burglarized in June as well, Thomas said, with the suspects gaining entry into the basement and cutting off the electricity before stealing guns and cash from the residence.

Thomas said deputies were on the scene of an attempted burglary call on Tennille Road when the burglary in progress call came in, and the victim’s description of the suspect matched that of one of the suspects in this home invasion.

More charges could be pending as law enforcement continues to investigate, Thomas said.