Police say the same woman charged in airport luxury car thefts was arrested again after a March 29 raid at a southwest Atlanta business called Rell’s Room.
ATLANTA, GA — A woman already accused of stealing high-end vehicles from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is back in jail after Atlanta police said they found her helping operate an illegal bar in the city’s Cascade Heights neighborhood.
Police said Sharell Reed was arrested again after officers served a search warrant around 2:59 a.m. March 29 at a business called Rell’s Room on Cascade Road. Her mother, Shatara Churn, also was arrested. Investigators said the business had drawn complaints for months over after-hours activity, unlicensed operations and illegal alcohol sales. The new arrest adds another layer to a case that already had drawn attention because police tied Reed to a series of luxury auto thefts at the airport and other parts of Atlanta.
The latest case grew out of complaints that began in September 2025, when neighbors and nearby business owners started reporting late-night traffic, parties and suspected alcohol sales at the site, police said. Investigators said Rell’s Room promoted itself online as “Atlanta’s newest obsession,” offering food, hookah and VIP experiences even though it did not have a valid business license and had been denied a state alcohol permit. Before dawn on March 29, officers moved in with a search warrant. Police said Reed and Churn tried to run as officers entered but were detained without injury. Inside, officers found what they described as nightclub-style conditions and seized about 120 bottles or containers of alcohol, along with surveillance equipment and other evidence. Both women now face charges tied to operating a business without a license and illegal alcohol sales, according to police.
The raid came less than three weeks after Reed’s earlier arrest in the airport auto theft investigation. Police said the original case began Feb. 26, when officers assigned to the airport section responded to a report of a stolen vehicle from a parking garage at Hartsfield-Jackson. Investigators with the Auto Crimes Enforcement Unit then linked Reed to multiple thefts involving high-end vehicles in airport parking areas and elsewhere in the city. Reed was arrested during a traffic stop on March 10, according to police. She was later booked into the Fulton County jail and, according to local reports, posted bond before the March 29 bar raid. Authorities have said Reed faces eight counts of theft by taking auto, one count of theft by taking and one count of concealing the identity of a vehicle. Police have said the investigation remains open, and it is not yet clear whether prosecutors will seek additional counts tied to other vehicles.
The airport theft allegations put Reed in the middle of a broader crackdown on a type of crime that has troubled Atlanta’s airport for more than a year. Investigators have said organized groups have targeted parked luxury vehicles, especially models such as Cadillac Escalades, Corvettes, Jeeps, Dodges and other high-end General Motors vehicles. Police have said the thieves often use electronic programmers to create replacement keys, allowing them to drive off without smashed windows or obvious signs of forced entry. That method, officials say, can let stolen vehicles leave airport decks with little immediate notice. Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum told city officials this week that airport auto thefts have dropped sharply after the department reassigned officers and investigators to the problem. He said there were 335 thefts at the airport in 2024, compared with 17 in the first quarter of 2026. He also said Atlanta police have arrested 28 suspects in auto theft cases this year and secured warrants for 15 more.
Reed’s name surfaced publicly as police highlighted what they said was progress against those theft rings. Schierbaum said Reed was accused of stealing 10 high-end cars from airport lots over several months, including thefts on Aug. 18, Sept. 20 and twice on Oct. 12, with another theft later in October. He said those vehicles included Cadillac Escalades and Corvettes, two of the most desirable targets in the recent cases. In a separate airport-related case last July, police announced the arrests of three men they said were tied to more than 50 stolen cars in less than five months. Lt. Rodney Jones Jr. said at the time that investigators believed some people working the thefts were being paid for a service while others higher up in the chain may have been arranging where the vehicles ended up. He said police sometimes had to let stolen cars move through the system so investigators could identify who received them. That wider context has made any arrest tied to the airport theft pattern especially significant for investigators.
The alleged bar operation adds a neighborhood public-safety dimension that was not part of the original auto theft case. Residents in Cascade Heights had complained not only about the possibility of unlicensed alcohol sales, but also about repeated late-night gatherings at a commercial site in a corridor that mixes homes and businesses. Police said the operation continued even after the business was denied the required permit to sell alcohol. Authorities have not said how much money the business may have taken in, how many events were held there, or whether anyone else will be charged. They also have not publicly detailed whether tax, licensing or nuisance-related violations will be pursued in addition to the criminal counts already announced. For now, the clearest evidence described by police is what officers found during the search: alcohol stocked for sale, surveillance gear and a setup that investigators said resembled an after-hours club rather than a legal restaurant or event space.
The two cases together have drawn unusual attention because they connect two very different kinds of alleged crime: thefts from the world’s busiest airport and an after-hours business operating in a southwest Atlanta neighborhood. Police body-camera video from Reed’s earlier arrest showed officers ordering her to surrender, and television reports on the March 29 raid showed officers moving on the building in darkness before sunrise. In both investigations, police have stressed that the work is not finished. Reed remains accused, not convicted, in the auto theft case as well as the new allegations involving Rell’s Room. Churn also remains accused, not convicted, in the bar case. Court dates and charging decisions beyond the counts already reported were not immediately detailed by authorities. The next steps are likely to play out in Atlanta Municipal Court or Fulton County courtrooms as prosecutors review the evidence seized during the raid and as auto theft investigators continue tracing the airport cases.
For now, the case stands at an early but fast-moving stage: Reed is back in custody, Churn has been arrested with her, and Atlanta police say both the illegal bar inquiry and the larger airport auto theft investigation are still active. The next public milestone will likely come with updated court records or any additional charges filed in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.