Man charged with multiple thefts, robbery

Sardis police brought an end to a three-day crime spree in the Sardis-Boaz area that included multiple thefts and an attempted robbery, according to Chief James Harp.

Aaron Joe Champion, 25, of the Boaz-Sardis area, has been charged with first-degree theft, second-degree theft, fraudulent use of a credit card and first-degree receiving stolen property, for offenses comitted in Sardis, Harp said.

Boaz Police Chief Josh Gaskin said his department obtained warrants on Champion for first-degree attempted robbery, first-degree theft, second-degree theft and breaking and entering a vehicle.

Gaskin said Champion told police he tried to rob a Boaz store "because he was poor." He also admitted a vehicle burglary and the theft of a gun.

The robbery occurred just before midnight Tuesday, Gaskin said, when a man later identified as Champion entered the store with a shirt wrapped around his face and another shirt wrapped around his hand. He told the clerk he had a gun and told her to give him all the money.

The clerk refused and he fled the store. An abandoned vehicle was found nearby, Gaskin said in a press release, and it was found to have been stolen from Sardis.

Wednesday, Sardis police spotted Champion running down Whitesboro Road, Harp said.

“He’s known for walking around the community. Seeing him running was unusual,” Harp said. Officer Keith Beaird stopped him to talk to him, the chief said, because police had been looking at Champion in connection with recent thefts.

Harp said Officer Will Alexander saw him the night before, but investigators were not ready to make an arrest at that point.

Then officers found a vehicle abandoned on Happy Hill Road, near where Champion was observed on the run. It had been stolen in Boaz.

Harp said police questioned Champion and he admitted taking a vehicle from Oak Drive in Sardis. That vehicle was found abandoned at Walgreen’s in Boaz.

A credit card was taken from the vehicle, and it was found the same day in Gadsden, when someone tried to use it at a store.

There was an attempt to use the card at an ATM, Harp said, and video from the security camera there helped Sardis police identify Champion.

“Even though he tried to cover his face, we were able get a partial look at his face,” Harp said. But that wasn’t the real give-away.

“He has a very unusual walk,” the chief said, and officers were familiar with it from seeing Champion walking around his home in the Whitesboro area.

Another stolen vehicle police linked Champion to was recovered in Walnut Park, left in front of a residence. Harp said it was the first vehicle stolen that was linked to Champion and was located through On-Star.

Harp said all these incidents occurred in roughly a three-day time span.

Gaskin said when Champion is released from the Etowah County Detention Center, he will be transferred to the Marshall County Jail on the Boaz charges.

"The close working relationship between the Boaz Police Department and the Sardis City Police Department helped to solve multiple crimes in two different cities and counties," Gaskin said.