By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
Three Salisbury men, two of whom were caught in the act of stealing catalytic converters from a local automotive garage, also were charged with the theft of 16 converters from a car dealership in early June.
Charles Dill, 20, and Randall James Livengood, 28, both of 221 Eden Drive, and Marcus Ray Lindsay, 17, of 560 Oak Mountain Road, were charged with multiple counts of larceny, trespass and vandalism.
Lindsay is charged with one of count felony larceny, three counts of misdemeanor larceny, two counts of vandalism and one count of first-degree trespass.
Dill was charged with two counts of first-degree trespass, two counts of vandalism, one count of misdemeanor larceny and one count of felony larceny.
They were released from the Rowan County jail after posting $10,000 bond apiece.
Livengood faces three counts of misdemeanor larceny, two counts of injury to real property, one count of felony larceny, two counts of first-degree trespass, one count of obtaining property by false pretense and one count of simple possession of a controlled substance.
His bond was set at $12,500.
Lindsay and Dill were arrested by a Rowan County Sheriff’s deputy at Franklin Service and Garage on U.S. 601 late Monday night. Livengood was apprehended and arrested later.
Lindsay and Livengood also are charged with taking catalytic converters from Cloninger Ford on June 9 and On Track Auto Sales in May. Dill, too, is charged with the theft of catalytic converters from Cloninger Ford.
Rowan Sheriff’s Capt. John Sifford said someone reported Monday hearing a power tool being used at the Franklin Service and Garage after hours. A sheriff’s deputy and an employee went inside the fence that borders the business. There was no immediate evidence that anyone was at the business.
The deputy found a man wearing camouflage and a blue bandanna over his face, crouched between two vehicles.
The deputy asked if someone else was with him. The suspect, who authorities later identified as Lindsay, said the other person with him was, “under there,” pointing underneath a Ford Explorer, a department report said.
Authorities searched the area and found a battery-operated saw, a floor jack and two flashlights. They also found a black duffel bag with a catalytic converter inside.
Sifford said the suspects told authorities they cut a hole in the fence at the corner of the property.