Career Felon Arrested for Burglarizing Georgia Chabad House

Athens-Clarke County police on Wednesday arrested a career criminal on parole soon after he burglarized the Rohr Chabad House in Athens, Georgia.

Andrew White Payne, 56, apparently entered the Jewish center through an unlocked door and stole a laptop computer he concealed with a coat.

The center’s co-director, Chana Refson, was doing some work in the office when she saw Payne walking around and asked his if he needed any help, according to her husband, Rabbi Michael Refson.

“At that point my wife realized something fishy was going on and she called me,” Michael Refson said. “I ran after him, screaming ‘thief’ quite loudly.”

The rabbi chased Payne, who dropped the laptop and his coat, to a nearby car wash where the suspect got into a pickup truck and drove away, police said.

Michael Refson took note of the truck’s tag number and called police.

Officers found a cellphone in the coat that the suspect had dropped, and after checking with people who had recently been called on the phone determined that it belonged to Payne, police said.

Police said they checked a criminal database and identified some locations that was associated with Payne, one of them being a home on Vine Street where the pickup used in the burglary was found. Payne was located in the residence and arrested.

The truck belonged to an elderly resident for whom Payne was a caregiver, according to police.

Chana Refson positively identified Payne as the burglar by picking him out of a photo line-up.

At the time of the burglary, some relatives with children were visiting the Refsons and their own four young children.

“It was quite an adventure, especially with all the kids around watching what was happening,” the rabbi said.

Payne has been in and out of prison his entire adult life.

He served 11 different state prison terms since 1975, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections, and was most recently paroled in June from the Atlanta Male Transitional Center.

Payne has been convicted of felonies is Athens-Clarke, Wilkes, Habersham, Elbert and Barrow counties.

The corrections department lists 17 different aliases for Payne, whose convictions were primarily on fraud charges.

The Rohr Chabad House has both a synagogue and center that serves the Jewish community of Athens and the University of Georgia.

Based on his criminal history, police suspected that Payne tried to steal a computer from Rohr Chabad House to get personal information to use in additional fraud offense.

The Stableford Court resident was charged with first-degree burglary and is being held without bail at the Clarke County Jail. Corrections officials have placed a hold on him for violating parole.