FAIRHOPE, Ala.—The Fairhope Police Department reported yesterday that four men were arrested last week for three different cases of burglary, theft of vehicles and possession of stolen property.

The July 16 FPD news release did not indicate whether the arrests were connected to a series of recent alleged burglaries and theft of vehicles, which included break-ins at two downtown Fairhope businesses and were announced to the public in a July 9 post on the FPD's Facebook page, titled “Break-ins on the rise.”

But yesterday's news release did state that on July 9, Jarvis Safford, 18, of Fairhope was arrested and charged with burglary of a residence of a Fairland Avenue residence.

In the July 9 Facebook post, the FPD stated that since July 3 the department had received reports of more than a dozen incidents, which included an alleged burglary in the 600 block of Fairland.

Safford is charged with third-degree burglary and being held at the Baldwin County Corrections Center on a $6870 bail, according to online county records.

The FPD spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The July 16 FPD news release and the July 9 FPD Facebook post are included below.

See the July 19 issue of The Courier for additional coverage of this story.

FPD news release: July 16

Here is the news release issued by the FPD on July 16:

“Fairhope Police Arrest Four in Recent Burglaries / Thefts

Fairhope Police arrested a subject Friday afternoon for the theft of two vehicles and a residential burglary that had occurred the night before.

Officers were alerted early Friday morning at approximately 1:30 a.m. of a burglary in progress on Rockwell Lane that ended with a foot chase through a wooded area on Boothe Road. The suspect was not immediately located. Officers soon discovered that a vehicle from N. Ingleside and one on County Road 13 had also been stolen; one of which had been used in the residential burglary. The investigation led police to Curtis Reed who was located and arrested later that day. Reed, 36, was charged with two counts of Theft of Property First – Auto Theft, Burglary of a Residence and Attempting to Elude Police. Both vehicles and all property have been returned to the victims.

Fairhope Police took three additional subjects into custody during the past week regarding other thefts and burglaries:

• On July 9, 2013, Jarvis Safford, 18, of Fairhope was arrested and charges with Burglary of a Residence with Force of a Fairland Avenue residence.

• On July 10, 2013, our department received a call of suspicious subjects going door-to-door asking for donations to a local athletic club. The subjects then ran from the area and fled in a vehicle. Officers were able to stop the vehicle and found Aubrey Singleton, 19, and Tyler Gilmore, 18, in possession of stolen lawn equipment, some of which had just been stolen less than two hours prior from a residence on Pecan Avenue.”

FPD Facebook post: July 9

Here is the Facebook entry posted by the FPD on July 9:

“Break-Ins On The Rise

July 9, 2013 at 9:45am

Burglaries have picked up in the past week and we are asking residents to report any suspicious activity.  Since July 3rd, we have taken reports for:

• Residential burglary in the 600 block of Fairland

• Two commercial burglaries: window broken at Fairhope Hardware and most recently at Emmy’s Thrift Store, both on Fairhope Avenue.

• Items stolen from ten vehicles to include: Clubhouse Road in Rock Creek, 400 block of Church St., 600 block of Morphy, 300 block of School Street, 100 block of Orange Ave, 200 block of Magnolia, Cedar Avenue, Belle Chase Court, Crystal Wells Court South and West Chase Court South. Of these ten vehicles, all were unlocked and two guns were stolen.

• A motorcycle was stolen from School St.-Fairhope Ave. The victim believes that the key may have been left in the ignition.

• Vehicle was stolen from the Belle Chase neighborhood.The vehicle was unlocked and had a key inside.  The truck was found later that day in a wooded area off of School Street.”