Teens accused of breaking into tobacco store

FLORENCE - Two local teenagers are in jail after they were accused of breaking into a business before trying to burn it down Monday morning.

Matthew Lane Hellums, 19, 2226 Houston St., Florence, and Kiefer Wilson, 18, 318 Warren Ave., Florence, have been charged with second-degree arson, second-degree theft of property, second-degree receiving stolen property and third-degree burglary. Lauderdale County Sheriff Ronnie Willis said the two are accused of breaking into Tobacco Junction on Cloverdale Road, north of Florence, in the Petersville community.

Investigator Thomas McCluskey said the burglary was discovered Monday morning about 8 a.m. when employees reported for work. He said it is believed Hellums and Wilson broke into the business earlier in the morning.

"They took the electrical meter out and the telephone box and then broke through the back door," McCluskey said. "Once they got all of the items they wanted, they started a fire inside a metal filing cabinet."

McCluskey said nothing was damaged, but the building was smoked up by the flames.

A call of a suspicious person at a residence on Houston Street by a concerned resident led to the arrest. The stolen merchandise was recovered.

"Florence police got the call that someone was trying to get into a house at 2226 Houston Street," McCluskey said. "Hellums hadn't been living there long and no one knew him.

"When the police got there, they saw Hellums and Wilson coming from the back of the residence. Inside the residence, in plain view, they could see all the merchandise."

McCluskey said for most of the afternoon he and investigator Brad Potts itemized the items taken from the store. He said 40-50 cartons of cigarettes, hundreds of packs of cigars, numerous Zippo lighters and assorted other tobacco products were taken in the burglary.

Hellums and Wilson are in the Lauderdale County Detention Center each on bail of $9,000.

Tom Smith can be reached at 740-5757 or tom.smith@TimesDaily.com.