A month before he was accused of stealing judges’ cars, a stolen gun was found in his house

More than a month before two Middle Georgia judges’ cars were stolen, there were reports of car break-ins, burglaries and gun thefts in the Lake Wildwood subdivision in north Bibb County.

Authorities served a search warrant at the home of 18-year-old Maury Makel Frye Oct. 22 and found multiple guns, including one that had been reported stolen, prosecutor Pamela White-Colbert said during a hearing Thursday in Bibb County Superior Court.

They also found a driver’s license belonging to a person whose car had been broken into the previous day.

Frye is charged in the Nov. 29 theft of Houston County State Court Judge Jason Ashford’s wife’s car from Middle Georgia State University and with taking three cars from the north Macon home of former Macon Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Tripp Self. He’s also charged with theft by receiving stolen property stemming from the stolen gun found at his home.

He appeared in court Thursday to ask a judge to set a bond in the case. A retired Tifton judge was assigned to the case after all Macon circuit judges disqualified themselves.

Judge Gary McCorvey agreed to set Frye’s bond at $16,250 for all the charges.

On the afternoon of Nov. 28, Ashford’s wife walked out to the Middle Georgia State University parking lot and couldn’t find her Ford Expedition. She reported it missing.

Frye has admitted to investigators that he went to the school and looked for cars to break into. He saw the key inside Ashford’s locked SUV and used an open back window to get in, the prosecutor said.

He later took the Expedition to Self’s house, where he and others with him found keys inside a 2013 Ford F150 truck, 2015 Toyota Sequoia and a rented 2016 Dodge Journey, she said.

That night, police found Self’s truck totaled on Eisenhower Parkway after a wreck. After discovering the truck belonged to Self, deputies went to his house.

“When they looked outside, … all three vehicles were gone,” White-Colbert said.

The Sequoia was spotted the next day. Frye, 19-year-old Monteris Antonio Jackson and a juvenile ran away but were arrested later.

Ashford’s Expedition was found near Self’s house spray-painted with blue paint.

Frye, who was a student at Westside High this fall, also is charged with violating the state’s gang act through his alleged association with the Crips street gang, whose members wear blue.

Jackson and two juveniles also are charged in the case.

This story was originally published March 23, 2017 at 4:46 PM with the headline "A month before he was accused of stealing judges’ cars, a stolen gun was found in his house."