VALDOSTA — Jacob Smith was coming home from Moody Air Force Base when he saw something suspicious happening two doors down from his house.

His neighbor’s garage door was opening and then suddenly stopped halfway up. 

The neighbors were relatively new to the area, but it was 2 p.m. on a Monday, and Smith had never seen this before.

“It just stuck out to me as not normal,” the 39-year-old Iowa native said. “We’ve had several issues in the neighborhood over the last couple of months with odd stuff happening. Lots of little, nitnoid type stuff going on.”

One neighbor almost had his car stolen and another had his golf clubs taken right out of his trunk, he said. In response, the community at Trotters Ridge Circle started a neighborhood watch.

Smith didn’t join the watch because he and his family are moving back to Iowa. He just recently retired from the Air Force as a master sergeant after 21 years of service, but he follows the neighborhood watch’s Facebook page and is friendly with his neighbors.

The garage wasn’t the only suspicious thing Smith noticed that day. He saw a gold car he didn’t recognize driving slowly through the cul-de-sac.

“When I pulled into my driveway, I saw the gold car stop and back up into my neighbor’s driveway, and I knew it wasn’t one of his vehicles,” Smith said. “I stood there for a minute watching, and the driver saw me standing there watching him and then he drove off.”

Some people would have called it a day, or at the very least, gone inside and called 911. Smith, however, got back in his Mini Cooper and followed the gold car to get a photo of its license plate. 

Smith followed the car until it left the neighborhood, after which he called 911 to report the suspicious behavior.

He then went around the block, heading back home. But by the time he got back, the gold car was, again, sitting in his neighbor’s driveway. This time, there were two young men taking stuff from the garage and putting it in the trunk of the car.

“I was still on the phone with the dispatcher at that time, and I told her they were back and that I was going to block the car,” Smith said. “I pulled up and they immediately started throwing stuff and bailed.”

One of the guys ran away so quickly Smith didn’t get a good look at him. The other guy stayed and passed back and forth and kept trying to talk to Smith, who quietly sat in his car not engaging and patiently waiting for Lowndes County sheriff’s deputies to arrive.

“At one point, he got in the car and started to back up like he was going to ram into me, but he stopped,” Smith said. “He could have, but I told dispatch that if he hits my car, he hits my car. It’s not a huge deal. I’ll deal with it. As long as it stops whatever is going on here.”

Eventually, this guy also ran away in the same direction as the first guy, Smith said. A little after that, a third guy approached Smith’s vehicle and asked him where the other guys went. Smith continued to quietly sit in his car.

The third guy, realizing he wasn’t getting anywhere speaking to Smith, jogged off down the street. Not long after that — about 10 minutes, he said — the law finally arrived.

From there, Smith told his story to the deputies and left the case up to them. Later that day, Dominique J. Arnold was taken into custody by Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk. Arnold matched Smith’s description and is charged with burglary in process, the sheriff said.

Smith has since spoken with his neighbors. They thanked him and said he saved them from a lot of heartache.

The sheriff’s office told Smith he went above and beyond what most people would have done in his situation and that he put his own safety at risk. Smith said he never even considered his safety. He was just being a good neighbor.

“I didn’t even consider it. I guess that’s just the kind of guy I am,” Smith said. “The key is being neighborly. If you’re friendly with your neighbors, they look after you and you look after them. We look after each other.”

Thomas Lynn is a government and education reporter for The Valdosta Daily Times. He can be reached at (229)244-3400 ext. 1256