An alert neighbor helped Bulloch County sheriff's deputies find a man suspected of trying to break into a home Wednesday morning, the sheriff's office said.

At 11:51 a.m. Wednesday, deputies responded to a home in the 3000 block of Mill Creek Road for a residential burglary alarm. As deputies arrived on scene, a neighbor told them that a white male had been seen walking away from the home where the alarm had been activated and into nearby woods, Sheriff Lynn Anderson said in a news release issued Thursday.

Deputies extensively searched the woods. Capts. Todd Hutchens and Rick Rountree searched an abandoned mobile home in the area and located the suspect, later identified as Richard Gordon Willis, 39, of Mill Creek Mobile Home Park, hiding in the bathroom, Anderson said.

Willis was taken into custody and transported to the Bulloch County Jail, where he was charged with criminal attempt to commit burglary, possession of tools for the commission of a crime and criminal trespass.

Willis has an extensive theft and drug history in several Southeastern states, Anderson said.

The suspect is being held without bond pending further judicial action.

Anderson commended the alert neighbor who was able to help deputies apprehend Willis. The sheriff asks that citizens immediately report suspicious activity to 911.