2 teenage girls arrested
in break-in at Mars Hill PD

MARS HILL ó Two teenage girls were arrested Oct. 23 on charges that they broke into the Mars Hill Police Department and stole several items from a display case, including a counterfeit $100 bill, a toy gun and a marijuana bong.

Interviews led Madison County Sheriffís deputies to the homes of the two 16-year-old girls, one living in Mars Hill and the other in Ebbs Chapel.

One of the teens was charged with breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering and injury to personal property. She was being held at the Buncombe County Jail on a $6,500 bond.

The other girl was charged with felony accessory to larceny after the fact and was released into the custody of her parents.

The break-in took place about 3 a.m. Oct. 11 while the departmentís overnight officer was out doing building checks.

The incident prompted the department to start locking its doors at night when no one is in the building.

2 men charged with stealing
more than 4,000 lbs. of steel

CANTON ó Canton police charged two men with stealing thousands of pounds of steel near Pisgah High Schoolís machine shop last week, according to warrants.

Dakota Lee Curtis, 19, of Canton, and Bryan Christopher Huffman, 23, of Candler, are accused of stealing 400 pounds of steeel over the Oct. 20-21 weekend and another 4,000 pounds of steel Oct. 22.

The steel had been stacked next to buildings on the high-school campus, police said.

The men each were charged with felony counts of larceny and possession of stolen property as well as misdemeanor counts of first-degree trespassing and injury to property. They were being held in lieu of $10,000 bonds.

Employees at an Asheville scrap yard reported the men bringing in a large amount of metal, according to police.

Man accused of cashing
fake checks worth $2,600

Asheville police arrested Wilis Robert Toothman III, 23, Oct. 22 on charges of cashing more than $2,600 worth of fake checks.

Toothman, whose address was listed as the Buncombe County Detention Center, now faces 11 counts of uttering forged instruments.

Police said Toothman cashed the fake payroll checks at the Ingles on U.S. 70 in Black Mountain. His bond was set at $5,500.

Other Buncombe County arrests on Oct. 22 include:

ï David James Engle of Sand Hill Road, charged by city police with identity theft.
Engle, 35, was released on a written promise to appear.

ï Angela Jane Griffin of Edward Avenue in Weaverville, charged with assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

According to warrants, Griffin, 35, struck a man in the head with a meat cleaver. She was released on a written promise to appear.

ï Eric Eugene Hart, 28, charged with forgery of an instrument, uttering a forged instrument, hit-and-run/leaving the scene of an accident, failure to yield and driving with a revoked license.

Hart was released on a written promise to appear.

ï Shanese Rena Johnson of Deaverview Road, charged by Asheville police with breaking and entering and resisting a public officer.

Johnson, 22, also was arrested on outstanding warrants for failure to appear in court on drug paraphernalia charges. She was being held in lieu of a $700 bond.

UNCA police investigating
television theft from dorm

UNC Asheville campus police reported the larceny of a television set from one of the schoolís dormitories Oct. 16.

The theft was reported about 9:47 a.m. at the Scott Residence Hall. No one has been charged yet in the incident.

Bicyclist, pedestrian killed
in two weekend accidents

A bicyclist and a pedestrian were killed in separate accidents last Saturday in Buncombe County, according to the State Highway Patrol.

The first incident, which investigators are terming a hit-and-run, resulted in the death of Vincent Ryan North, 17, at 1:30 a.m. as he was riding his bicycle in the middle of Old County Home Road, near the intersection of Eliada Home Road.

A vehicle approaching from behind struck and killed North, Trooper Z.D. Stroup reported. The vehicle was traveling between 30 and 40 mph when the accident occurred.

No witnesses at the time of the accident were located and no vehicle description could be provided, the report noted. Those with any information are being asked to call the Highway Patrol at 298-4252.

In the aftermath, the Highway Patrol has obtained the help of investigators from the State Bureau of Investigation and the Buncombe Sheriffís Office in finding the vehicle that struck North.

In the second accident, William Todd Boyer, 40, was hit by a car as he attempted to cross Interstate 40 on foot near the East Canton exit.

Boyer, whose last physical address was New Bern, was struck and killed in the westbound left lane just past the highway overpass. Dispatchers received the call about 7:30 p.m.

Boyerís body will be sent for an autopsy, according to Patrol Sgt. Greg Dills.

No charges were filed against the driver of the car that struck Boyer. It was not exceeding the speed limit, and probably not much could be done to avoid hitting him, Dills reported.