Christmas morning burglars steal jewelry from Sam's Club and electronics from Walmart

Trios of burglars broke into two west Macon stores and helped themselves to jewelry, laptops and video games early Christmas morning.

At about 1 a.m. Monday, the burglar alarm sounded at Sam's Club at 4701 Log Cabin Drive, according to a Bibb County Sheriff's Office incident report obtained Friday by The Telegraph.

About 11 hours later, a Sam's store manager called deputies after finding jewelry scattered on the floor and three display cases broken.

Store workers had not yet compiled a list of the stolen items for the report, but the video surveillance showed the darkly-clad culprits pried open a back door and headed straight for the jewelry.

About a mile away, the Walmart at 6020 Harrison Road also was broken into by three people who forced open a back door between 6 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Christmas Day.

A store employee arrived to open up Christmas night and discovered two glass cases containing video games had been shattered and an office door was pried open.

An unknown number of games and laptop computers were taken from the store.

Video surveillance showed three people coming through the woods behind the store and breaking into the back door.

Bibb County sheriff's Sgt. Linda Howard said investigators are trying to determine if the same people are responsible for both burglaries. Police did not release the video surveillance in either case.

Anyone with information is asked to call an investigator at 478-751-7500 or phone anonymous tips to Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 877-68-CRIME.

Liz Fabian: 478-744-4303; @liz_lines

This story was originally published December 29, 2017 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Christmas morning burglars steal jewelry from Sam's Club and electronics from Walmart."