Corbin man arrested in connection with Gatti’s burglaries

Corbin Police arrested a Corbin man Wednesday that they have been searching for in connection with two burglaries at Gatti’s Pizza on consecutive nights in early March. According to Corbin Police Major Rob Jones, the department’s public affairs officer, officers received a tip about 2 p.m. that 20-year-old Jacob Huff was at the Marathon gas station on U.S. 25 near Hunter Hills Elementary School.

Huff

Jones, along with Detective Rusty Hedrick and officers Jeff Hill and Amanda Neal responded. “When we rolled up he was sitting in the car,” Jones said. “Hill blocked him in the front and I blocked him in the back and we got him out of the car.” Jones said Huff admitted to successfully breaking into the store at Corbin Station on March 3 and making a second attempt on March 4. Jones said Huff is being charged with two counts of third-degree burglary. “First-degree burglary involves the use of force or a weapon,” Jones explained. Under Kentucky Law, third-degree burglary is a Class D felony carrying a potential prison sentence of one to five years. Hedrick began an investigation after police were notified on the morning of March 3 that the store had someone had broken into the store and taken money from the safe in the manager’s office. The burglar had gotten inside through the back door. From there, the burglar got up into the ceiling where he crawled across and dropped down into the office. “Once in the office, Hedrick said the individuals was able to open the safe and remove the cash before again crawling through the ceiling and exiting out the back door. “We are not sure if the closing manager had failed to secure the safe,” Hedrick said previously, noting there was no sign of forced entry into the safe. The burglar reportedly returned to the scene Friday night for a second attempt. However, the alarm sounded when he attempted to go through the back door. Hedrick said police obtained video surveillance of the initial break-in from cameras at the neighboring McDonald’s restaurant. When police reviewed the footage from the March 4 incident, police saw the burglar run up to the McDonald’s parking lot as the alarm sounds and jump into a white Ford Escape SUV. Based on that, police put out a notice for law enforcement to be on the lookout for the vehicle. Corbin Police located the vehicle a short time later at the Corbin Walmart. Hedrick said the individuals in the vehicle said they dropped off the individuals, whom they identified as Huff, at McDonalds. A few minutes later, they reported hearing the alarm and saw Huff running back to the car and jumping inside. Hedrick said the individuals said they had no knowledge of Huff’s actions at the restaurant. However, once they learned about it, they pulled into the Walmart parking lot and ordered him out of the vehicle. “While these indviduals were unfamiliar with Huff’s last name, Hedrick said they were able to identify him from photographs. Based on that, police secured an arrest warrant for Huff. Jones said the investigation is continuing and further arrests may be made in the case.