Two suspects arrested and charged with multiple offenses following burglaries and stolen vehicle in Warren County

Two suspects have been arrested and charged with multiple offenses, including possession of stolen property, burglary, grand larceny, and obtaining a car tag by fraud.

The Warren County Sheriff’s Office provided details on the case on Thursday. According to Sheriff Martin Pace, the investigation began on Feb. 22 when a man from Claiborne County reported his GMC Sonoma Pickup truck stolen from Highway 61 South near Yokena while he was on his way to an area hospital. At around the same time, the Sheriff’s Office received information that the stolen vehicle may have been involved in other crimes.

Sheriff Pace reported that the following day, three vehicles were burglarized, two at a local casino and one at a motel. Detective Erich Jerscheid with the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Vicksburg Police Department’s Detective Curtis Judge obtained video surveillance footage from several locations and identified the stolen vehicle as the one driven by the suspects in the burglaries. The investigators received a tip on the location of the suspects.

Jerscheid staked out the location for several hours and observed the individuals.

On Feb. 23, Jerscheid stopped the vehicle, which was occupied by two suspects, Brian Odom, 32, and Joseph Bagget, 30. It was later discovered that the tag on the vehicle was registered to a different GMC Sonoma, which had a title but was inoperable.

(no order) Brian Odom, 32, and Joseph Bagget, 30. (Photo by David Day)

“It appears one of the suspects had a title to a GMC Sonoma that was inoperable. [He] then took that title to the tag office, obtained a car tag and placed it on the vehicle, so if you ran the tag it actually came back to a GMC Sonoma,” said Pace. “Just not that one.”

The suspects were identified as being involved in other auto burglaries and stolen property was recovered.

Odom was additionally charged with identity theft for using a debit card obtained from one of the burglarized vehicles. Both suspects are prior convicted felons, on probation and are therefore unable to post bond due to a detainer placed on them by the Department of Corrections.

Odom has a bond set at $70,000, while Bagget’s bond is $60,000.