Former Cellmate Breaks into Jailed Man’s House

Two people found at a jailed man’s property told deputies they were just cleaning things up and getting vehicles ready for a bail bondsman. There was one rather large problem with that explanation. The man sitting in jail said he didn’t know either of them. Lawrence County deputies responded to an active burglary complaint and found a man and woman at the property. A small SUV was parked beneath the carport, and deputies noticed the hoods were up on several vehicles. The pair told deputies they knew the homeowner was currently in the Lawrence County Jail. The man, James Woodell, said he knew the homeowner, had sometimes stayed at the property before the man's arrest and was there to help clean things up. He also claimed he was supposed to meet with a bail bondsman the following morning to discuss getting the homeowner released. According to the report, Woodell appeared to be working with batteries in vehicles on the property. When a deputy asked what he was doing, Woodell said the owner had previously removed the batteries and he was putting them back so the vehicles could be started if the bondsman wanted to see them. Then Woodell volunteered another interesting piece of information. He said he'd been in jail with the homeowner just days earlier. That prompted deputies to call the Lawrence County Jail and ask the homeowner whether these two people were actually supposed to be at his property. His answer, according to the report: He didn't know them and hadn't given them permission to be there. Woodell offered an explanation for that, too. He suggested the homeowner was “twacked out on drugs” and might recognize him better by a nickname. With deputies unable to determine what condition the house and vehicles had been in before the pair arrived — or whether anything had actually been taken — they did not make an arrest. Instead, deputies collected written statements from Woodell and the woman and escorted both off the property until they could produce paperwork showing they had permission to be there. But deputies weren't finished checking the story. One deputy returned to the jail and personally interviewed the homeowner. Even after being shown a photograph of the two people found at his house, the homeowner reportedly maintained that he didn't know either of them. The deputy then checked recent jail records. Those records reportedly confirmed one part of Woodell's story: he really had recently been locked up and housed with the homeowner. What remains unclear is whether anything was stolen. Deputies said they couldn't determine the previous condition of the vehicles, and although a door showed damage, it wasn't clear when that damage occurred. The homeowner was told to have someone familiar with the property check the house and vehicles and report anything missing. For now, deputies are left with a peculiar situation: a recently released inmate found working around the property of a man he'd recently shared jail housing with — while the still-incarcerated homeowner insists he has no idea who the man is.

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