DALTON, Ga. — The last thing some business owners and homeowners want as the heat of summer approaches is to have issues with their air conditioning.

Some business owners in downtown Dalton now know why they have been losing freon out of their cooling units and dollars out of their pocket.

The Dalton Police Department arrested a man who was caught “huffing” freon from an air conditioning unit at SuperBody Fitness Center at 701 S. Hamilton St. shortly after midnight Thursday. The arrest came after increased patrols in the area following a rash of recent reports of freon loss by three businesses and one multi-unit residence.

Mitchell Brent Harrison, 39, of 173 N. Beaumont Road in Ringgold, was charged with misdemeanor theft by taking, loitering or prowling and criminal trespass. Police spokesman Bruce Frazier said after Harrison’s arrest he admitted to doing the same thing at four downtown locations — hitting the AC units at SuperBody Fitness twice — and will face additional charges. Harrison is in the Whitfield County jail and his bond has been set at $1,722.50 on the original charges.

When an officer approached Harrison who was lying beside an air conditioning unit outside SuperBody Fitness, the officer saw that he was “actively huffing” freon from the unit, according to a police incident report. The officer asked Harrison what he was doing and Harrison “rolled over and stated that he had ‘passed out’ beside the AC unit.” Another officer later asked Harrison how long he had been there huffing freon and Harrison said approximately 30 minutes.

“We are going to be charging him with four additional counts of theft by taking,” Frazier said. “We have had reports of this in that same general area. At first he denied it, but eventually he has been linked to four other places for a total of five charges. All of them are all in the same general vicinity.”

Other locations include JBM Solutions at 510 McGhee Drive, an apartment complex at 200 W. Emery St. and the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce at 100 S. Hamilton St.

Ruth David, co-owner of Super Body Fitness, said she contacted police Wednesday morning after the air conditioning unit wasn’t working properly and she found freon was missing from her system. She said she has two units in the back of the building, two units in the front and four more on the top. In addition to the freon, David reported a “quarter-sized” puncture in the side of a unit that had not been there before.

“I guess they take the cover off the valve, push the valve and put something over their head and inhale the whole thing until it is empty,” David said. “There is no telling how long he had been back there. It looks like it would kill him.”

According to the police incident report, when Harrison was found beside the air conditioning unit the caps to the freon valves were off and two small sticks were lying by the unit. He told officers he was “addicted to huffing freon.”

The website thedoctorstv.com, the website for the TV show “The Doctors,” says inhaling freon produces a high similar to alcohol intoxication.

Rob Bradham, president and CEO of the Greater Dalton Chamber of Commerce, said when the air conditioning at the chamber didn’t work he had no idea what had caused it. He said new valves have been placed on the two units at the building to help deter any future thefts.

“The valves that you undo in order to huff the freon — which I had no idea was even a thing — you can get locking valves,” Bradham said. “So we have replaced our valves so that hopefully it won’t ever happen again.”

The Chamber of Commerce building is owned by the city of Dalton. Human Resources Director Greg Batts said replacing the coolant in the tanks of the units is expensive for city taxpayers.

“Both of those units were drained and they were somewhat old so they had to be filled with the older type of coolant,” Batts said. “Just the freon for both units was a little over $900 not including the service call, so you are looking at more than $1,000 total.”

David said her business was looking at replacing at least 20 pounds of coolant and had no idea how much the total cost was going to be.

“I haven’t been given a statement yet, but (the technician) had 35 pounds of freon in his container,” she said. “It will cost quite a bit of money. There is no telling how much.”