On 10/2/21 at around 6:15 PM, a female walked outside the Decatur Club, where she was attending a wedding, to retrieve something from her vehicle. A B/M, 20-25, 602/thin, wearing a gray shirt and skin- ny jeans, followed her back inside and up the stairs. Once on the second floor, the B/M pulled her into an empty room, propped a chair up against the door and grabbed the victim’s arms “pulling and pushing her around.” The victim was able to get away from the suspect and ran to the women’s bathroom where an- other female happened to be present. The other female yelled at the male and he ran out of the building and got into a gray or silver Impala.
On 10/4/21, at around 10:00 AM, a female was in her vehicle pulling out of a parking spot on Merchant Street when a B/M driving a black Impala got out of his vehicle and walked in front of her vehicle, causing her to stop. She rolled her window down partially and the B/M asked her where Robbie’s Grill was. She told him it was right behind him and he said he meant the Café. At this point, she decided to roll her window all the way as the B/M had not given her any reason to suspect he was a threat. As soon as she did this, he immediately reached into her vehicle and grabbed her inner thigh near her groin. She imme- diately rolled her window up, trapping the suspect’s arm, and began honking the horn and driving for- ward. She rolled the window back down so the B/M could escape, pulled to the stop sign and stopped.
She exited her vehicle and yelled at the suspect that she was calling 911, as she believed the B/M was go- ing to approach another female she saw standing in the area. The suspect then left in the Impala. She described the male as average height and build, nice looking, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt.
It was noted that the suspect and vehicle descriptions given in these two incidents were very similar to that of Preston E. Thomas, 34, of Decatur who was wanted for several offenses related to domestic violence. Thomas had eluded the US Marshals Violent Fugitive Task Force in Springfield on the evening of 10/04/21 after a vehicle pursuit resulting in him wrecking his vehicle and fleeing into a wooded area where a K-9 track was ultimately unsuccessful.
Thomas was positively identified in the Decatur Club incident and an additional arrest warrant was obtained for Kidnapping and Unlawful Restraint on 10/5/21. The investigation into the Merchant Street incident is still ongoing, and additional charges may be forthcoming.
Thomas was located and arrested after a foot pursuit at Jasper and Wood at 11:20 PM on 10/6/21. He was driving a stolen vehicle at the time of the attempted stop. Thomas is currently incarcerated in the Macon County Jail reference numerous charges stemming from a variety of incidents.
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