A second person has been charged in a rash of storage building break-ins in Stanley, Dallas and Mount Holly. Police allege Jerry Odell, 22, of Mount Holly, helped Matthew Ward, 27, of Mount Holly, and another man currently wanted by police break into 23 different storage buildings.
Altogether Odell faces 68 criminal charges of breaking and entering, larceny and conspiracy. Ward was arrested Aug. 18, on 76 charges, including breaking and entering, conspiracy and larceny.
According to arrest records, the three men stole mostly lawn maintenance equipment and tools from storage buildings, carports and sheds in residential areas in Stanley, Dallas and Mount Holly. The break-ins happened between April 1 and June 28 of this year.
David Moore of Stanley was among the first victims in the rash of break-ins. Moore’s outbuilding was broken into not once, but twice.
Four chainsaws, a leaf blower, weed trimmer and other items were stolen from Moore’s outbuilding at his home. The items were worth a combined $12,000 to $14,000, he said.
“It makes you so dadburn mad you can’t see,” he said. “Here we work to buy this stuff, and then they come and steal it.”
The Moore’s hadn’t had any trouble with break-ins since an incident in the 70s, he said. But Moore said he knows how to stop it from happening again.
“I told the officer, I said, ‘turn him loose and let me at him and he won’t be back again,’” Moore said.
Another home about a quarter mile from his also had a break-in, Moore said.
Most of the homes that had sheds and storage buildings broken into were in the same neighborhoods and streets. Odell was given a $250,000 secured bond.
You can reach reporter Lauren Baheri at 704-869-1842 or Twitter.com/lbaheri.