Local man charged in forgery, theft
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on December 16, 2016 1:05 PM
A man is in custody for four separate incidents in which he allegedly stole property and forged checks, according to a Friday press release from the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies arrested Justin Edward Howell, 27 of 847 Ebenezer Church Road, not once but twice during the course of the investigation.
On Oct. 7, the sheriff's office received a report of an employee stealing four blank checks, which they filled out and cashed for a total of $802.85. Then in November, several items valued at $1,100 were taken from the Oak Ridge Church of God, which was in the process of aiding those in need after Hurricane Matthew.
This was followed on Nov. 14 by two other incidents. In the first, a victim reported that several items of personal property were taken from their home by a person the victim was attempting to help following Hurricane Matthew. The stolen property was valued at $4,590.
The second incident that same day came from the Mt. Carmel Church, which was also assisting victims of Hurricane Matthew. Several items of an unspecified value had been taken from the church. In no case was there evidence of forced entry.
After an investigation that saw several stolen items recovered at local businesses in Goldsboro, detectives determined that Howell was responsible for all four incidents. Howell, who was already in custody for a probation violation, was arrested at the Wayne County Detention Center for the first incident Dec. 12 on four counts each of felony forgery, felony uttering a false instrument, and felony obtaining property by false pretenses. He was given a $30,000 bond.
Howell was subsequently arrested for the third incident on Dec. 14, adding a count of felony larceny, felony possession of stolen goods, and four counts of obtaining property under false pretenses. He was given another $30,000 bond.
Finally, Howell was arrested again Dec. 15 for the second and fourth incidents, each of which carries larceny, possession and false pretenses charges as well. He received an additional $20,000 bond for that arrest.
According to the release, most of the stolen items have been recovered.