Police arrest man for series of College Park car break-ins

COLLEGE PARK, Ga. - College Park Police made a big arrest in a series of car break-ins. The break-ins were caught on surveillance video which helped officers get their suspect.

Perren Hillman, 20, was arrested in connection with a series of car break-ins in a local parking lot, all done during broad daylight, according to police. Police said he’s connected to at least five break-ins in cars in the last month at the food mart on South Main.

“My family comes here a lot, so it could have been our car. We leave a lot of items in because we feel this is a safe place,” said resident Nao Barber.

Investigators said it's unclear why Hillman and his associates chose this parking lot.

 “Baffling, a person would have a lot of nerve to enter something during lunchtime. You never know when somebody is going to come out. That is something that amazed us about this guy,” said Sgt. Marcus Dennard, College Park Police Department.

Police said he and his accomplices would scope out the parking lot ahead of time. In this case, someone would drop him off and wait while he peers into a car to see what was inside. They would leave only to return minutes later.

So far, investigators have Hillman connected to five separate cases in the city, but said there could be more not only in college park but in other jurisdictions.

“Hopefully it's a relief for people in College Park, they can go in and enjoy the city as usual. Knowing we got this guy off the streets,” said Sgt. Dennard.

Hillman faces five counts of entering auto and six thefts by taking among other charges. This is an ongoing investigation and more charges are possible as well as arrests.