Public record
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on February 8, 2009 2:00 AM
Break-ins
Sheriff's investigators suspect at least two people in a burglary where someone punched huge openings in four shared drywall walls at a shopping center.
The suspect or suspects managed to enter five adjacent businesses, Wayne County Sheriff's Office Sgt. Joe Smith said.
But after breaking through four walls, they stopped short of entering a pawn shop with a sign in the window advertising a "high-voltage defense grid."
"They went through four businesses, through the walls, and messed up all their toilets," the sergeant said.
Despite causing possibly thousands of dollars in damages to walls, pipes and plumbing, the thieves made off with only about $100 to $150 during the robbery, Smith said.
The owners of the businesses reported the break-ins around 7 a.m. on Friday morning, and the damage to the walls.
The break-in began with prying open the door at a tanning shop near the end of the shopping center, off of U.S. 117 North just outside Goldsboro, Smith said.
Starting at Tone-N-Tan, thieves broke their way through the wall at Upscale Beauty & Barber shop and then the walls of three more businesses before stopping.