Two north Georgia men are behind bars in the Catoosa County jail, charged with committing a pair of armed robberies and other crimes in Catoosa County during a two-week period earlier this month, authorities said.

Jeremy Edward Thomas, 22, of Dietz Road in Fort Oglethorpe, and James Frederick Hill, 18, of 27 Circle Drive in Rossville, were arrested July 12 in connection with crimes in Ringgold and the Fort Oglethorpe area, Catoosa Sheriff Phil Summers said.

The men were denied bond July 13 at their first hearing at Catoosa Superior Court, Summers said.

In addition to charges of burglary and entering an auto, Thomas and Hill each face two counts of armed robbery stemming from the July 7 holdup of the Favorite Market on Cloud Springs Road and the July 11 holdup of the Sav-A-Ton on Battlefield Parkway.

A 40.-caliber semi-automatic handgun, stolen from a car in the parking lot of Ingles Supermarket in Ringgold, was used in the holdups, Summers said.

“One subject was armed and came in demanding money and cigarettes, while the second subject came in and took beer,” he said. “At one of these robberies, there was a video camera (at the store). One (of the robbers) wore a ski mask and one did not, so we had a pretty good description of at least one of the subjects.”

During the two-week crime spree, the men also burglarized the home of friends they were staying with, Summers said.

“You know the old saying, ‘Thieves have no loyalty at all.’

This happened during about the same time period as the robberies,” the sheriff said. “Ironically, through the investigation of the burglary, we actually learned information that gave us the names of these possible (armed robbery) suspects.”

After Catoosa detectives identified the men as suspects in the case and posted a bulletin to area law enforcement agencies, they were located by East Ridge, Tenn., authorities at the Travelodge Motel in East Ridge, Summers said.

“We told them (East Ridge police) that we believed they (the suspects) might be in a motel in the East Ridge area, and while they were searching for a car with the description that we gave them, they found them at the motel,” he said.

Hill was taken into custody in East Ridge, while Thomas escaped on foot and was arrested later that night by Catoosa authorities at the residence of a friend on Mack Smith Road.

Jinney Marie Tipton, 24, of Trenton, was traveling with the men and was arrested on an outstanding probation violation, Summers said. She was not charged in connection with the robberies, the sheriff said.

“They (Hill and Thomas) were staying at her home in Catoosa County and she had just relocated to Trenton, Georgia,” Summers said.

The alleged robbers had disposed of an undisclosed amount of cash and goods stolen from the businesses by the time of their arrest, the sheriff said