MARION, N.C.,None — Deputies and police have charged relatives in separate theft cases – sisters for breaking into each others' houses and a husband-wife team that targeted cars in motel parking lots.
Detective Nathan Mace of the McDowell County Sheriff's Office charged Ginger Hope Hollifield, 35, of Gurleigh Loop in Marion with one felony count each of breaking and entering and larceny. She was taken into custody in lieu of a $2,500 bond.
He also charged Allison Faith Bradley, 32, of Gurleigh Loop with misdemeanor breaking and entering. (A photo of Bradley was not available.)
Mace said deputies were called to the Gurleigh Loop home of Geraldine Allen in reference to a domestic dispute between Hollifield and Bradley, who are sisters, and Allen, their mother.
Bradley and Allen claimed that Hollifield broke into their house and stole $5,330 worth of items, including a Blue Ray player and discs, shoes, a vacuum cleaner, DVDs, coats, a computer, clothes, a cell phone and video game system accessories.
Mace said some of the items were found in Hollifield's possession, so she was charged with the break-in and theft.
While on the scene, Bradley admitted that she broke into Hollifield's residence to see if her sister had the stolen shoes. So Mace charged Bradley, too.
In a separate case, Detective Sgt. Rick Gutierrez of the Marion Police Department charged Joshua Randall Russell, 31, of Asheville with two counts each of felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle and misdemeanor larceny. He was released from custody on a written promise to appear in court.
He also charged Andrea Michelle Russell, 28, of Asheville with two counts each of aiding and abetting felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle and aiding and abetting misdemeanor larceny. She was released from custody on a written promise to appear in court.
On June 9, Mitch Laney reported that he heard a noise outside Super 8 Motel on U.S. 221 South, looked out and saw a man going through his 2002 BMW. The victim went outside the motel and yelled at the suspect, who fled on foot toward a nearby gas station, according to a news release by Gutierrez.
Laney told officers he saw the suspect get into a blue/gray Nissan Sentra with a female waiting on him.
The man took a CD and computer equipment, valued at $48, from Laney's BMW, the release stated.
On the same day, Vasile Gocan reported that someone entered his 2004 Saab at the Hampton Inn and removed two digital cameras and a pair of hiking boots, valued at $425.
The same two individuals – later identified as married couple Joshua and Andrea Russell – committed similar crimes at motels in Asheville and were stopped by police, said the release.
Gutierrez added that the detective in Asheville supplied him with the couple's names. The local investigator talked to the pair, and they confessed to the break-ins and thefts in Marion, according to the release.
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