COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A man thought he could get himself a free meal in Cobb County, but he was charged with murder instead.

Police say Brian Garfield Fort and some friends ran up a $100 tab at The Juicy Crab along the East-West Connector and walked out without paying.

A Cobb County officer found Fort’s cell phone left in one of the restaurant’s booths. They didn’t need to get into the phone to figure out who it belonged to because the photo on his lock screen was a selfie.

Investigators later learned Fort was wanted on a murder charge.

“Great job by this Cobb County police officer, and we couldn’t be more proud of the work they did to capture this dangerous suspect,” officer Aaron Wilson said. “All he had to do was come here, file a report and go to the next call; this case would’ve been sent to an investigative detective.”

An employee at The Juicy Crab got a picture of Fort’s license plate and shared it with police.

“They find several names that are associated with this vehicle, run those names through GCIC, they get the picture from the driver’s license, they match the picture to the guy’s phone, here’s the guy,” Wilson explained. “They run that name through, and what happens? They get a GCIC hit for a murder warrant outside of DeKalb County.

Within hours, a license plate reader got a hit on Fort’s car in Brookhaven and he was taken into custody.

“Several officers [go from] call to call to call where they are backed up with reports, so what this officer did was above and beyond what a normal officer would likely have done,” Wilson said.

Police said Fort killed a man in Decatur earlier this year.

He was also arrested in Gwinnett County last year for walking around the outside of a high school with a shotgun during a football game.

Fort is currently being held in the DeKalb County Jail on charges of murder, theft by receiving stolen property and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

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