Deputies capture suspects who allegedly stole and dumped safes

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - Authorities said Roy Cannon, 31, and Willie Thomas, 48, are charged with stealing five safes from local businesses and dumping them into Bayou Chico in Pensacola.

Each safe weighed somewhere between 250-350 pounds. Deputies also recovered three safe doors. The safes they belonged to were not found.

“It’s been since back in May that they’ve been doing it. Some of the safes they were able to get into and some they weren’t. They were all being dumped in the Bayou Chico,” said Escambia County Deputy Matt Baxter.

Deputies said the location of the safes was discovered on September 4, when they pulled over Darrell Jones, 45, and discovered one safe in the back of his truck. The safe was identified as one stolen from a Family Dollar on Fairfield Drive.

 The other two occupants of the vehicle, identified as Cannon and Thomas, jumped out and fled.

 Cannon and Thomas were both arrested on September 24, after hiding from law enforcement.

Authorities said the safes that were found underwater had probably been down there for a significant amount of time. They were rusted and covered in barnacles, and the only contents found were some CDs and a few coins.

Jones was booked into jail and has a number of charges including burglary. Cannon and Thomas face charges of burglary, larceny, grand theft, and criminal mischief.

 Baxter said they’re glad they got the suspects off the streets so they can’t do this anymore.

 “Safe thieves are something you don’t see a lot of anymore. So it’s odd, and it makes you think they’ve done this a lot in the past,” Baxter said.

 Authorities are still trying to identify the location from where several safes were stolen.