Salisbury Police Chief Chris Herring and Rowan County Sheriff George Wilhelm made an announcement this morning that a lot of people have waited anxiously to hear — the man they believe is responsible for the string of burglaries in Salisbury and Rowan County has been arrested.

Jon Stephen Walker II, of 1300 Old Concord Road, Apt. 5, Salisbury, was arrested at his residence Friday afternoon and is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $50,000 bond.

Walker, 20, is the suspect in about 13 burglaries in Salisbury, around the country club area, and various neighborhoods in Rowan County. More than $54,500 in cash, jewelry and other property was taken in those break-ins.

For more than a week, county and city investigators have worked together scouring neighborhoods and recovering victims’ property from pawn shops in Salisbury, Gastonia, Charlotte and Lexington. Investigators say Walker pawned the goods under his own name.

“He didn’t think we would search other pawn shops outside of Salisbury,” Wilhelm said. “That’s where he made a big mistake.”

Salisbury Police detectives Tom Lowe and Danny Dyles, along with sheriff’s investigator Tim Wyrick, obtained a search warrant Friday afternoon to enter Walker’s residence, where they recovered jewelry and some of the property stolen from the homes Walker has allegedly burglarized since June.

Police also arrested David Poole, who was wanted on 10 outstanding warrants, at the residence. Poole was not connected with the burglaries, however.

So far, the investigation has cleared seven break-ins in Salisbury and six in the county.

Phone calls from witnesses, who could described the cars the suspect drove, initially lead investigators to Walker.

Detectives said Walker has been very cooperative. He said he would knock on the front door of residences, mostly during the day. If no one answered, he would go to the back door and knock. If he got no response, Walker would kick in the back door or break the glass to gain entry.

If anyone came to the door, Walker would tell them he was searching for a dog.

Walker even admitted that he did not steal items from residences that had stickers in their windows indicating they had burglar alarms.

Two eye witnesses were at one of the homes and were able to give police a description of Walker. Other neighbors described two different vehicles — a light blue Ford Tempo and a burgundy Chevrolet Corsica, which belonged to Walker’s girlfriend — in their area at the time the homes were broken into.

“It’s obviously important that the community gets involved in these cases,” Herring said. “When the public gets involved, we can catch these guys.”

The law enforcement officers had this advice for residents to help deter future burglaries:

• Keep valuables in a safe or unique hiding place.
• Avoid keeping all valuables together.
• Use alarms or extra locks on windows and doors.
• And call your local law enforcement agency for more tips.

The joint investigation on Walker’s case will continue.