[June 04, 2009] Homeowner finds suspected steak thief hiding in shed, makes YouTube video Tweet ATHENS, Jun 04, 2009 (The Decatur Daily - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A suspected steak thief who hid in a homeowner's shed got his arrest highlighted in a YouTube video by the homeowner. The homeowner, Gabe "Gannabis" Johnson, 40, titled it "Athens City Police Nabs Hometown Hamburgler." "It's just like cannabis but with a G," Johnson said, when he gave The Daily his nickname. Johnson said he woke Tuesday morning to his "little black doggie outside just crazy barking." When he went outside, Johnson said, he saw a patrol car near his home at Seventh and Houston streets. "I got caught with a lot of pot a few years ago," Johnson said. "I was on probation and had a violation last year, so my dad thought I was in trouble again." Johnson said he got his video camera and walked to a dilapidated shed in his yard where the dogs were barking. The shed has a bathroom. "The dog was barking like, 'It's trouble. It's trouble,' " he said. "I went inside and said, 'Hello?' Then I looked in the bathroom, and there was this black dude just lying there in the floor. I was like, 'Whoa. This dude is totally hiding from the cops.' " Johnson told his dad to track down the officer and tell him someone was hiding in the shed. 'Make crazy videos' "I like to make crazy videos," Johnson said. "I walked in behind the cop." He videotaped officer Doug Duran, who when he saw the man, said, "It's always you, isn't it?" Police reports identified the man in the shed as Reginald Allen Pryor, 38, of 11759 Stewart Drive, Tanner. Officer Tom Allen recovered the $50 in steaks. Johnson filmed it all and added music by Parliament-Funkadelic. "Rock on. I haven't been in The Decatur Daily in 40 years, when my birth announcement was in there," Johnson said. "Those cops were nice, and they were protecting and serving. They did their jobs." Officers charged Pryor with theft of property, criminal trespassing and parole violation. He has had previous run-ins with the law. His bond is revoked. "I tried to make it funny, and the laughter you hear on the video is sincere because I wasn't the one who was going to jail," Johnson said. "I did have to go see my probation officer, and the form you sign always asks if you've had contact with police. I asked my probation officer if he had a computer and showed him the video. I think he got a laugh." To see more of The Decatur Daily, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.decaturdaily.com Copyright (c) 2009, The Decatur Daily, Ala. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]