A Texas man in custody in Bolivar County is believed to be behind a string of commercial burglaries in the Delta, including one in Leflore County.
Antonio Banks, 35, of Dallas is being held in connection with the burglary of eight businesses in six counties across the Delta, including the burglary of Double Quick convenience store and gas station on U.S. 49 near the Delta Trailer Park in Leflore County on April 21.
Leflore County Sheriff Ricky Banks, who is no relation to the suspect, said that authorities are still looking for three additional suspects in connection with the burglaries.
Authorities were able to connect a number of the details about the commercial break-ins. They targeted convenience stores or gas stations in rural, isolated areas, where burglars entered around 3 or 4 in the morning and made off quickly with the safes, the Leflore County sheriff said.
An investigator from the Leflore County department interviewed the suspect Monday while he was in custody in Bolivar County. Antonio Banks confessed to a role in at least some of the burglaries in which he is accused, Sheriff Banks said.
The Bolivar Commercial reported that Bolivar County sheriff’s deputies recovered seven of those safes abandoned on rural roads. Bolivar County Sheriff Kelvin Williams told the Cleveland newspaper that each safe usually contained several thousand dollars and that the break in the case came after the final alleged burglary of a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Rosedale.
In all, Banks has been linked to three burglaries in Bolivar County, two in Sunflower County and one each in Coahoma, Washington, Humphreys and Leflore counties.
Charges have not yet been filed against Banks in Leflore County. The sheriff said it was unclear on how many counts — and in how many jurisdictions — the suspect would be facing prosecution.
“I don’t know how many of those he’s confessed to yet,” Ricky Banks said.
