by Teresa Eubanks, Journal Editor
A man who triggered a motion alarm at Cadence Bank in Altha was arrested after he was spotted inside the bank around 2:40 a.m. Saturday.
When Deputy Nate Jordan arrived at the bank at 25463 N. Main Street, he looked through the front doors and saw a man with a pink towel covering his face.
The deputy called for backup and then went to the rear of the bank. He looked inside a second time and saw the same man running across the lobby.
The deputy was waiting with his gun drawn as the suspect crawled out of a broken window on the north side of the building.
Joshua Clenney, 27, of Marianna was taken into custody without incident and later charged with burglary of a structure and criminal mischief.
After he was secured in a patrol car, the deputy took the towel the man had used to hide his face as well as a pair of socks covering his hands. Clenney, who was wearing flip-flops, had several cuts on his left big toe from stepping on broken glass.
A meat clever and a butcher knife were found near the broken window inside the bank. It appeared the clever was used to break an exterior security light above the window and then used to chop through a sheetrock wall in an effort to get to the safe, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office.
Clenney told investigators that he was trying to provide for his mother, who was terminally ill and had only two months to live, according to Sheriff Glenn Kimbrel.
Kimbrel noted that a family member of Clenney’s told him no one in the family knew anything about his mother being ill.