NORTH CAROLINA COMPUTERS STOLEN http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/three-105718-police-havelock.html


Suspected thieves nabbed by GPS
April 11, 2012 10:39 AM
ShareThis| Print Story | E-Mail Story
DREW C. WILSON
Freedom ENC

HAVELOCK — Quick police work and a little help from technology helped Havelock police catch three suspects in connection with the theft of three computers from the Havelock Walmart on Tuesday.

Havelock police Lt. Brian Woods said Walmart security noticed three individuals each pushing a separate shopping cart containing a computer. The three left the store around 10:30 a.m. and loaded the unpaid merchandise into a red SUV.

Walmart security was able to get a license plate number from the vehicle and relayed that information to police.

“It was obviously instrumental in us solving this crime,” Havelock police Sgt. James Fahnestock said of the work of Walmart security.

Fahnestock said information from the license plate indicated that the vehicle, a red Mitsubishi Montero Sport, was a rental from H and J Auto Sales in Rocky Mount. He contacted the rental company and learned the SUV was equipped with a GPS system that would permit the company to disable the vehicle.

Using the GPS coordinates, police located the SUV, with its hood up, in front of a room at the Hostess House just before 11 a.m.

“They were trying to figure out why it wouldn’t start,” Fahnestock said of the suspects.

Havelock police recovered all three boxed Hewlett Packard desktop computers and other property, including several fishing rods apparently stolen from another store.

Woods said police were trying to find out from which store the items had been stolen. The red getaway vehicle was confiscated.

“The investigation is ongoing,” he said. “We were able to recover the three stolen computers as well as other stolen property. It’s still undetermined where it came from, whether it was the Walmart in Havelock or maybe New Bern or Morehead City.”

Woods said three people were taken into custody, two men and a male juvenile.

Matthew Randall, 24, of Rocky Mount, was arrested and charged with felony larceny and misdemeanor possession of stolen property.

Randall has an extensive record including felony second-degree sexual offense and multiple misdemeanors, according to the Department of Corrections. He was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and spent five months in jail, his fifth time in jail. He was released in September of 2011.

Tommy Hairston, 32, of Rocky Mount, was arrested on three warrants from Rocky Mount for failure to appear.

The name of the juvenile was not released. Police report the total value of the computers at $1,500.