Homeowner spots burglary from airplane

JONESBORO, AR (KAIT) - Two men were arrested in Craighead County after they were spotted allegedly trying to burglarize a home by the homeowner who was flying over in an airplane.

According to the Craighead County Sheriff's Office, Roosevelt Smith III and Joseph Peel, both of Jonesboro have been arrested and charged with Residential Burglary and Theft of Property.

When David Hudson, Steven Lynn, and another friend decided to go flying on Friday, they never would have bargained for the day they would have. After returning from Memphis, Lynn asked Hudson, who was flying the aircraft, if they could fly over his house. Hudson set a course for Lynn's home and when they arrived they couldn't believe their eyes.

"When I took him over his house, there were a couple of guys loading up a bunch of stuff," said Hudson, "I was like, someone is stealing stuff down there."

After seeing the suspects at his home, Lynn called his uncle to go see what was going on. When Lynn's uncle arrived, police say the suspects threw some of the items from the truck and took off.

"They were giving us turn by turn directions and giving us a description by county road," said Deputy Sheriff Phillip Wheaton. He said that when he went to work that day, he never expected to be getting turn-by-turn directions from an eye in the sky.

The suspects were eventually stopped and arrested on Highway 158 right under the watchful eye of the lucky homeowner and his friends. "When we saw the cops pull up it was just pure excitement," said Lynn. He says the chances of him being in the right place at the right time were very slim, "The odds that we were flying over the house at the exact time they were there, are almost zero."

This was Lynn's first time in an airplane he says next time goes he'll be a little on edge, "I'll be nervous until I see there's nobody there." Despite the adrenaline pumping plane ride, the homeowner says he enjoyed most of his ride, "it was awesome, I was enjoying it until that happened."

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