A 19-year-old Salem man being sought following a January car burglary at Salem Community High School was taken into custody Saturday night during a traffic stop in Centralia.
Salem Police say Branden Powell of South Franklin was wanted in connection with a burglary broke up in progress in the parking lot of Salem Community High School during the Salem Invitational Basketball Tournament. The owner of the vehicle came out of the gym and noticed the rear gate of his vehicle open. Initially, the owner thought someone was playing a joke on him, but when he remotely closed the gate a man jumped out and ran.
When the owner didn’t recognize the man, the Salem High School Resource Officer at the game was contacted along with the police department. The Salem canine tracked the suspect and a beanie believed worn by the suspect was recovered. However, he was not located that evening. Meanwhile, after reviewing video from the school’s parking lot cameras, police identified the person seen running from the vehicle as Powell.
In addition to rummaging through the vehicle entered, the video also reportedly showed Powell trying doors on other vehicles attempting to gain entry but they appeared to be locked.
Police had been looking for Powell since the January incident. He was driving the vehicle that was stopped by police at seven Saturday night at 10th and Hickory for failure to signal.
The incident occurred the day after Powell had pleaded guilty in Marion County Court to eight other car burglaries that had occurred in Salem on a single night in September. Powell had been placed on 30 months second chance probation with drug and alcohol evaluation as well as recommended treatment and abstention with random testing along with 30 hours of public service work.
A hearing has been set for March 21st to determine restitution in the eight vehicle burglary cases. Those burglaries had occurred on North College, West Warmoth, West Allmon, North Ohio, and West Lovell Streets.
