Rifle-Toting Student Answers Door, Burglar Runs Away

It's become a familiar tactic by burglars in Athens: they ring the front doorbell or knock, and if no one's home, they kick in the door and take what they want. Only this time, things didn't work out that way.

According to a story in the Athens Banner Herald, a 25-year-old UGA student was napping in the bedroom of his Old Winterville Road home when he heard someone ringing the doorbell near the front door. He didn't want to get up, but he did after he heard the bell ring repeatedly and then heard banging.

He went to the door and heard a man's mumbling voice, the story says, so the student rushed back to his bedroom and returned with a Marlin rifle. At which point, the would-be burglar fled.

A description from a neighbor led police to Tolbert Lee Stanley, 44, of North Peter Street, the story says, who was arrested and charged with burglary.