Rockdale deputies have arrested four people in connection with a pawn shop burglary earlier this month that resulted in the theft of 17 guns.

The three suspects that have been arrested for Burglary are Delva Green III, 24, of Conyers; Neal Terry James Hughes, 20, of Snellville; and Roger Ezell Smith Jr., 20, of Lithonia. Green and Smith remain in the Rockdale County Jail awaiting bonds, while Hughes has been released from jail on a $25,000 bond. The fourth suspect that was arrested for two counts of Theft by Receiving Stolen Property is Melvin Lee Jackson Jr., 37, of Conyers. Jackson has been released from jail on a $15,000 bond.

On Tuesday, March 12, deputies with the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office responded to an alarm call just after 5 a.m. at a local pawn shop. Upon arrival, deputies found the front glass door shattered, the metal security bars pulled back and two cabinets broken. It was later determined that 17 handguns had been stolen from the gun cabinet.

Investigators received a break in the case on Thursday, March 14, while they were assisting another law enforcement agency with a search warrant in north Rockdale County. During that search warrant, two stolen firearms from the pawn shop burglary were recovered and investigators began tracking where the stolen guns came from. They were able to gather information that led to the identities of the burglary suspects.

Since that time, investigators have arrested three suspects for the pawn shop burglary and a fourth suspect for being in possession of two stolen firearms. At this time, all of the burglary suspects are in custody.

To date, three of the stolen handguns have been recovered. Two were recovered during the search warrant and a third was recovered during a traffic stop in DeKalb County.

Anyone with information about the whereabouts of the remaining stolen handguns is asked to contact Investigator Edell Davis at 770-278-8158.