Arrest Made in Rock Throwing Cases

(Paulding County, GA) Over the course of the past few months, there have been multiple cases where someone has thrown rocks, bricks, and other objects at cars while they were traveling on GA SR 61 South (Villa Rica Highway) between Winndale Road and Campground School Road. As you may remember, the cases were very sporadic in frequency but all seemed to stay in the same corridor of GA SR 61 South. On December 22, 2017, three more vehicles were struck by objects resulting in damage to each vehicle. Fortunately, no one was injured during these particular instances of obdurate behavior.
After a citizen called Paulding E-911 on December 23, 2017, reporting suspicious persons in the area, Deputies with the Uniform Patrol Division located three suspicious individuals in the area of GA SR 61 South and Mustang Drive in the evening hours. As a result of that field interview with the three individuals, a suspect was generated.
On December 28, 2017, the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office reached out to the public via our Social Media pages requesting assistance in this case. We asked any motorist who was traveling in the area of GA SR 61 South and Mustang Drive on December 23, 2017, between the hours of 9:30 PM and 10:00 PM to give us a call if they saw anything or anyone suspicious.
Fortunately, we were able to finally get the break in this case that we needed. Because of the field interview with the three suspicious persons on December 23, 2017, the Criminal Investigations Division, the Juvenile Investigations Division, and the Uniform Patrol Division were able to secure warrants and make an arrest in the case. As a result of many hours of relentless Detective work, we would like to announce that Mackinely Graham Pritchard was arrested in conjunction with the three most recent incidents.
Mackinley Graham Pritchard of Dallas, Georgia (W/M, 18 YOA) was arrested on December 28, 2017, and charged with three (3) counts of Terroristic Threats/Acts (F). Sheriff Gary Gulledge noted, “This type of senseless lawlessness will not be tolerated in Paulding County. I commend our Deputies and Detectives for their hard work in putting this individual behind bars. Hopefully, our citizens can travel down GA SR 61 South with a better sense of security now that Pritchard is in jail.” Pritchard is being housed in the Paulding County Jail on an $8,450 bond.
Although Pritchard has been arrested, the Criminal Investigations Division of the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office would still like to encourage anyone who may have any information about this case to come forward. If you know anything about this case or know of other individuals who might have been involved, please call the Criminal Investigations Division at (770) 443-3015.