Homeless pair charged for Athens burglary
- Classic City News
- Mar 19
- 2 min read
By Joe Johnson
Two homeless people were indicted this week in connection with the burglary of a home on Beverly Drive in which hundreds of dollars worth of property were stolen.
One of the defendants is on probation for a devastating arson fire that destroyed a homeless camp a decade ago.
Carole Rayeanne Childers-Queen, 56, and James Anthony Hill, 48, were each charged with first-degree burglary, according to the indictment filed in Superior Court on Tuesday.
The burglary occurred on the morning of February 13th, when residents of the Beverly Drive residence saw the pair loading landscaping equipment from the garage into a car.
Police located the car and the suspects at Westchester Circle apartment complex.
Childers-Queen and Hill were arrested and the stolen property recovered at a Jefferson Road location where it had been stashed.
Both suspects are being held without bail at the Clarke County Jail.
Childers-Queen is currently on probation for a 2014 conviction for an arson fire that destroyed the belongings of dozens of homeless people who were living under the North Avenue bridge that spans the North Oconee River.
Authorities said that she set the fire in retaliation gainst a man with whom she had argued. They reportedly lived together under the bridge in one of several “cuts” — areas on a concrete ledge divided by bridge girders and serving as living quarters for the homeless camp there.
The fire quickly turned into a blaze, spreading to clothing, furniture, mattresses and other items. The fire damaged the bridge and the flange of an Atlanta Gas Light pipe, causing it to leak. As the fire spread, witnesses told police that Childers-Queen squatted on a path nearby to watch.
Immediately following the fire, county officials evicted those living under the bridge and erected fences and no trespassing signs.
As part of a negotiated agreement with prosecutors, Childers-Queen in 2015 pleaded guilty to that fire and another she set nine months later at a house in east Athens.
In return for her guilty pleas, Clarke County Superior Court Judge Lawton Stephens sentenced her to 20 years, with seven years of that time in prison and the balance on probation. The judge also ordered her to pay nearly $30,000 in restitution to Athens-Clarke County for money spent to clean up, repair and secure the North Avenue bridge.
Childers-Queen was released on parole from the Emanuel Women’s Facility in January 2017, after serving less than two years in prison, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
