By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL/ Staff Writer

A burglary suspect allegedly linked to three separate burglaries was detected hiding in a barn loft off of County Road 54 by deputy K9 “Traffic” on Aug. 17.

The suspect has been identified as 39-year-old Paul Allen McBrayer.

According to the Chilton County Sheriff’s Office, the three burglaries occurred within less than 24 hours of each other.

The first burglary was reported around 4:30 a.m. by a burglary alarm at a different address located on County Road 54, according to the CCSO.

CCSO said that upon arriving on scene, the first deputy to respond noticed a broken garage window, and proceeded to call for backup.

The deputy and additional units cleared the building when no one was found inside, and deputies discovered several items were missing.

A CCSO investigator processed the scene.

“Deputies received an additional call of another possible burglary that had taken place earlier in the night. The two addresses were not far apart,” a press release reads.

Deputies responded to the new call, and while at the second address, received a third call reporting a burglarized barn at an address next door to the first burglary location, according to CCSO.

“The victim observed a male in her barn but thought that he had fled before Deputies arrived. Corporal McCartney used Traffic to do an area search and search of the barn,” Shane Mayfield, assistant chief deputy, said.

Mayfield said Traffic located McBrayer hiding in the barn loft, where CCSO said he was taken into custody to the Chilton County Jail without incident.

“Several items had been gone through in the barn and he was charged with burglary,” Mayfield said. “Once he was booked and searched at the jail, some jewelry that was determined to be from the barn was located on his person, so an additional charge of theft of property was added.”

A $750 bond was added to the additional charge, according to the Chilton County Jail website.

Mayfield informed in an update that two additional charges for burglary in the area will soon be added.

According to CCSO, “Traffic is a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois. He is trained in narcotic detection and tracking. We are happy to have him on our team.”

Traffic and his partner of six months, Corporal Cory McCartney, have made several drug cases during their time working together, according to the press release.