Public records
By Other
Published in News on April 27, 2006 1:48 PM
Fire damages home
An earlier kitchen fire that the owner thought she had put out smoldered Wednesday and started a second blaze that heavily damaged a modular home at 419 S. Slocumb St., a Goldsboro Fire Department official said.
No one was home at 1:30 p.m., when a passerby saw smoke coming from the attic, Assistant Fire Chief Gary Whaley said.
"She had an earlier grease fire but got it out," Whaley said of the owner, Mary Rose Brown. "A little bit of fire escaped into the exhaust fan, smoldered for a few hours and then ignited."
The fire leaped from the fan into the attic, where it did extensive damage, Whaley said. Firefighters saved as much furniture and household goods as possible, Whaley said, before they removed the ceiling. Then they covered the home to protect it from a forecast rainstorm. The home, valued at $70,000, had about $30,000 in damages. About one-fourth of the contents, valued at $4,000, was damaged.
Drug raids
Two people were arrested Wednesday by Wayne County authorities and charged with felony drug offenses after undercover investigations.
Santos Geovami Rodriguez, 16, of North Center Street was arrested after a search of a room at the Quality Inn at 708 Corporate Drive.
Rodriguez was charged with trafficking in cocaine by 28 to 200 grams, maintaining a dwelling for the purpose of keeping and selling cocaine and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. He was placed in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of an $115,000 secured bond. More charges are possible, officers said.
A second man was arrested by the Aggressive Criminal Enforcement Team of the Wayne County Sheriff's Office and charged with a felony drug offense after a traffic stop on U.S. 70 East. Ricardo Elizalde Bautista, 28, of Indian Springs Road, Mount Olive, was charged with possession with intent to sell and deliver marijuana. About $1,000 worth of marijuana was seized. Bautista was placed in the Wayne County Jail in lieu of a $3,000 secured bond.
Firearms found
FREMONT -- A .45 caliber pistol and three assault rifles have been recovered in fields off South Chestnut Street in Fremont, Wayne County Sheriff's Capt. George Raecher said Wednesday.
The handgun was found behind a house in the 900 block, and the three SKS rifles were found in another location, Raecher said. Sheriff's detectives are working with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the State Bureau of Investigation to determine the owners of the weapons and from where they came. They were recovered after Fremont police had asked the Sheriff's Office for assistance in investigating a shots-fired call about two weeks ago. Raecher said the weapons have not been connected to recent armed robberies in northern Wayne.
6 hurt in wrecks
Six people were injured and damages were estimated at $3,700 Wednesday in two traffic collisions in Goldsboro, police reported.
*Four people were injured in a two-car, rear-end collision Wednesday on East Ash Street near North Slocumb Street, Goldsboro. Ashley Brooke Rich, 18, of Lorease Drive, Dudley, and Christopher Lamar Miller, 27, of LaGrange, and his passengers, Luther Jones, 22, of Howell Road and Marcus Barbour, 23, of Boyette Drive, were treated and released from Wayne Memorial Hospital. Ms. Rich was charged with a safe-movement violation. Damages were set at $2,200.
*Two people were injured in a two-car crash at Wednesday at Wayne Memorial and Lockhaven drives. Freddie Gene Jones, 65, of Misty Lane, and his passenger, Vera Coley of South Street, Fremont, were released after emergency-room treatment. Kenneth Earl Renn Jr., 33, of Stoney Creek Church Road, was charged with failure to reduce speed. Damages were put at $1,500.
Investigations
Wayne County sheriff's deputies are investigating these reports:
*About $7,648 worth of property was stolen in the last four months from a home and storage barns in the 200 block of James Hinson Road. Alfred Ray Hollowell reported the theft of tool boxes with tools, a garden tractor, computer equipment, a wood tilt-bed trailer, two satellite receivers, a disc harrow and a sander.
*A burgundy 1982 Chevy Blazer truck was stolen between from a repair shop in the 3300 block of Nahunta Road. Gregory Reid put an $800 value on it.