Authorities continue to respond to calls for assistance at Blanton Common apartment complex.

Early Friday morning, Stephen Guess, 24, of Lake Park and Thompson Newkirk, 21, of Valdosta were arrested and charged with felony theft by entering auto, possession of tools for commission of a crime and possession of stolen property, reported Cmdr. Brian Childress of the Valdosta Police Department.

Childress said that Valdosta Police officer Thomas Bisdorf was patrolling the complex, located in the 1500 block of Lankford Drive, when he came upon two suspects who were acting suspiciously.

“Officer Bisdorf’s reason for patrolling the area was due to the increased amount of recent problems occurring there,” Childress said. “He was able to determine the two suspects broke into a vehicle and took property.”

Childress added that Bisdorf, along with other patrol officers, apprehended the two suspects and recovered a substantial amount of property they “believe was stolen in recent thefts from vehicles and burglaries.”

Childress noted that the investigation remains ongoing. He said that he was very pleased with the “outstanding job” the officers did in making the arrests and recovering the stolen property.

He was not able to confirm if the two suspects are students at either of the area colleges.

Other arrests were made at the Blanton Common apartment complex on Tuesday by the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office’s Narcotics Investigation Division.

At 1:30 a.m., in the 1500 block of Lankford Drive, the NID conducted a search warrant and arrested six college students, according to Lowndes County Sheriff Chris Prine. It was not known at press time which area college the suspects attend.

Richard Steadman, 20, Brandon D. Haywood, 19, Luke Guerrero, 20, Kristopher Jones, 20, and Kenneth Ford, 20, were all arrested and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, Prine said. Haywood was also charged with possession of drug-related objects.

Stephen Holden, 20, was arrested and charged with felony possession of marijuana with the intent to distribute and possession of tools for the commission of a crime, Prine said.

Besides the narcotics, investigators also recovered two firearms and $200 in cash during the bust.

“We have been investigating the area for some time after receiving several tips that drug activity was going on,” said Prine.

He said the 75 grams of narcotics recovered from the residence has a street value of approximately $750. The investigation is ongoing.

“We are going to keep after these drug and burglary rings,” Prine said. “Our investigation teams will follow every lead and not let up until we have slowed down the illegal activities in our communities.”