$18K in mowers stolen from Wayne County Public Schools
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 27, 2015 1:46 PM
Thieves made off with more than $18,000 in lawn mower equipment after breaking into a storage shed on the campus of Eastern Wayne Middle School.
A second break-in -- to a shed on campus at Greenwood Middle School -- is also being investigated by police.
Detectives are not yet certain whether the two cases are connected.
"It is a possibility. It's a little too early to say," Maj. Anthony Carmon said.
In both cases, the suspects cut the lock off rolling metal doors to storage sheds, according to two Goldsboro police reports.
The first break-in took place between 5 p.m. Friday and 20 minutes after midnight Saturday at Eastern Wayne Middle School on Central Heights Road. While on patrol, a Goldsboro police officer noticed the open shed.
The shed is located on the eastern edge of the property. Among the items taken were three riding mowers, a push mower, two trimmers, a blower and a spool of trimmer string. The damage to the lock was listed at $5.
A riding mower was also stolen from the campus of Greenwood Middle School on Ash Street. A lock was cut from a rolling metal door on a shed belonging to the Wayne County Soccer Club.
The shed is adjacent to the school's gymnasium. According to the police report, attempts were made to pry the door to the school, too, but the suspects were unsuccessful. The strike plates where the doors meet appeared to have been pried out about an inch, the report said.
The value of the stolen mower and damage done at Greenwood are estimated at $3,530.
Carmon said the reports were being looked over, but the cases had not yet been assigned to an investigator.
"We are still looking at whether or not we have enough to go on," he said.