The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a man on a theft charge in connection with an ongoing investigation between Alabama and Georgia authorities. The Sheriff’s Department has also learned that a man arrested in connection with the 2003 robbery of a local bank was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

According to a spokesperson with the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Department, Wesley Williams was arrested Tuesday, Sept. 25 and charged with receiving stolen property in the first degree. Williams became a suspect from information furnished to the sheriff’s office and Centre Police Department, Piedmont Police Department, Etowah County Sheriff’s Office and several law enforcement agencies in Georgia.

The investigation, reports said, started approximately six weeks ago when officers began to receive information that a large amount of construction equipment was either in or coming into Cherokee County. At this time, five Cat loaders, a Freightliner service truck and a 4000-gallon fuel tanker trailer have been recovered.

On another matter, the FBI Office in Huntsville contacted the Cherokee County Sheriff’s office fecently in reference to the bank robbery trial of Jimmy Doyle Hindman. Hindman was found guilty and was sentenced Tuesday, Sept. 25, to 490 months (approximately 35 years) for his part in the robbery. Billy May was sentenced earlier this year and received 216 months (approximately 18 years.)

The Dekalb Bank at Sand Rock was robbed Aug. l, 2003, by two armed men who fled the scene. Law enforcement personnel later found the get away car abandoned in Dekalb County. It has been stolen from Tennessee. Officers and witnesses from Cherokee County testified earlier this year in this case in federal court