A 30-year-old Albia man faces multiple charges, including a felony, after Fairfield police connected him to a storage unit burglary and subsequent incidents that unfolded over an eight-hour period on October 9-10, 2025.
Johnathan Tiberious Craver was arrested in the early morning hours of October 10th following an investigation that began the previous evening when officers were called to investigate a break-in at a local storage facility.
According to court records, on October 9th, 2025, at approximately 6:25 p.m., Fairfield police officers were dispatched to Select Self Storage, located in the 2800 block of West Grimes Avenue, to take a report of a burglary that had occurred at the business. Officers immediately began reviewing security camera footage from the storage facility. The surveillance video proved crucial to the investigation, capturing images of what officers described as a slender Caucasian male suspect wearing distinctive clothing: a black hoodie, light blue jeans, and a white Under Armour backpack.
At around 2:00 a.m. on October 10, officers say they responded to a separate call regarding an attempted vehicle burglary in the 800 block of North 10th Street. Responding officers quickly located a suspect in the area and noticed a vehicle that matched the description from the earlier storage facility burglary investigation.
Based on the security footage reviewed earlier that evening, officers conducted a traffic stop on the matching vehicle near a closed business adjacent to Select Self Storage. The location of the vehicle was parked at a business next to the recently burglarized storage facility. During the traffic stop, officers made contact with the vehicle’s occupants and requested identification. The driver, later identified as Craver, provided officers with false information, giving them a fake name and date of birth.
As officers spoke with Craver, authorities noted that they observed that he was wearing clothing remarkably similar to that worn by the suspect captured in the Select Self Storage security footage. The similarities between Craver’s attire and the surveillance images provided probable cause for further investigation.
During their examination of the vehicle, officers spotted a white Under Armour backpack in the back seat—matching the backpack seen in the security footage. When questioned about the backpack, the defendant claimed it belonged to him. Upon inspection, officers discovered the backpack contained bolt cutters, which investigators determined was the method of entry used to break into the storage units.
The investigation took another turn when dispatch advised officers that Craver had an active no-contact order in place. The order protected a female individual who was with Craver at the time of the traffic stop. When officers questioned both parties about why they were together despite the court order, Craver explained that the woman was helping him because he was currently homeless.
Following the completion of their investigation, officers arrested Johnathan Tiberious Craver and charged him with three separate offenses:
· Burglary in the Third Degree (Class D Felony)
· Interference with Official Acts (Simple Misdemeanor)
· Violation of a No Contact Order (Simple Misdemeanor)
Following his arrest, Craver was transported to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility, where he is currently being held on a $5,000 bond.
Edited for corrections.
