Smash-and-grab burglary spree in Hoover ends with Birmingham man in jail

A smash-and-grab burglary spree in Hoover Wednesday morning ended with a 46-year-old Birmingham man in the Jefferson County Jail, facing three burglary charges.

Hoover police first responded to a burglary alarm at Hibbett’s Sporting Goods at 1615 Montgomery Highway in the Hoover Commons shopping center at 1:54 a.m., police Lt. Keith Czeskleba said in a news release.

When officers arrived, they found the front door glass shattered and the area around the cash register ransacked, Czeskleba said. Video surveillance showed the suspect to be a black man wearing a dark-colored hoodie and toboggan and driving a white van, Czeskleba said.

While officers were still at Hibbett’s a second burglary alarm activated at Package 150 at 2798 John Hawkins Parkway in the Colonial Promenade at Hoover shopping center. Officers arrived to find the front door there shattered and several bottles of liquor missing, Czeskleba said.

Then at 2:50 a.m., police spotted a van matching the description of the suspect’s vehicle parked at the Lake Crest Chevron, he said. A man matching the description of the suspect walked out of the store and approached the van and was detained by officers, Czeskleba said.

“He had bits of broken glass on his clothing, and officers observed what appeared to be items taken from both burglaries inside the van,” Czeskleba said. “Officers also discovered that the vehicle’s ignition switch was damaged and later learned that it was reported stolen from Birmingham earlier in the night.”

The officers arrested 46-year-old Maurice Jerome Myers of Birmingham and took him to the Hoover City Jail.

Then at 7:06 a.m., police responded to the Ashley Mac’s cafe at 5299 Valleydale Road in the Inverness Highlands shopping center on another burglary, Czeskleba said. An employee had arrived to find the front door glass shattered and a computer tablet missing, and that tablet was inside the stolen van, he said.

Myers was charged with three counts of burglary and remained in the Jefferson County Jail this afternoon, with bond set at $195,000. Additional charges are pending, Czeskleba said.