MARIANNA, FL 2/07/2012 --

Jackson County Sheriff's investigators are looking for the people responsible for a string of burglaries. They believe the same thieves could be responsible for breaking into as many as a dozen homes.
The break-ins happened over a 3-day period last week.

The Jackson County Sheriff's Office is investigating a string of burglaries that started last Tuesday in Decatur County, Georgia.

"There were three black males that approached the house and the owner was home, and when they found out he was home they immediately left," said Jackson County Sheriff's Office Major Donnie Branch.

After failing once, Branch said he believes the same three men did burglarize a few homes there, then made their way to Jackson County. He said they broke into a total of five Jackson County homes, stealing from four.

"One of them a large amount of firearms were taken, small amount of jewelry, the other one, a couple of firearms were taken and some jewelry," said Branch.

Other items included electronics and musical instruments, but the crime spree didn't stop there.

"On Thursday, Gadsden County Florida had some burglaries, basically the same thing," said Branch.

With such a large area to investigate Branch said authorities need the community's help to catch those responsible.

"We're hoping that once this gets out that somebody may have seen something unusual," said Branch.

If you have any information on these crimes, call your local authorities or Crime Stoppers.