By Shelley Smith
ssmith@salisburypost.com
Two people are in jail after an accidental overdose got in the way of their escape after being caught entering a Landis home, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reported today.
On Tuesday around 7:15 p.m., deputies responded to a break-in on Rice Street in Landis. Marvin Kendall, who reported the break-in, told deputies he was there taking care of a sick friend. While the friend was running errands, Kendall walked up the road to check on a family member.
When Kendall returned, he said he saw a truck in the driveway of the friend’s home, with a blonde older woman behind the wheel. A younger man came through the front door with a Michael Jordan collector’s plate in his hands.
Kendall told authorities he asked the man what he was doing. The suspect said the homeowner told him he could have the plate.
Kendall asked the man to wait until the owner returned, and the man put the plate back and tried to leave. Kendall then asked him if he’d wait until the homeowner returned so he could make sure nothing else was missing.
The suspect said he would wait, but wanted to tell the woman in the truck what was going on. When the man entered the truck, the driver took off, spinning out of the driveway and over a ditch, and headed toward Landis, Kendall told officers.
Kendall described the suspects: an older, blonde white female and a younger male — and their truck, a black or red Ford Ranger.
The homeowner returned and found several medications missing, the report said.
While deputies were questioning Kendall and the homeowner, they got a call of an accidental overdose from the fire department.
When a deputy arrived at 1745 N.C. 153 N., he recognized the overdose victim as 23-year-old Dustin Sloop; the deputy saw an older woman with blonde hair inside the home. Parked out back was a Ford Ranger.
When EMS arrived, Sloop refused to cooperate. As he was frisked for weapons, a pill bottle belonging to the Rice Street homeowner was found in his boot.
Sloop told deputies he had no idea whose bottle it was or how it got there, but deputies arrested him, the report said.
Kendall was transported to the scene where he identified Sloop as the man who took the plate, and the woman, Gail Ann Jaycox, 52, as the driver of the truck.
Bags on the porch of the home on N.C. 153, which Sloop asked someone inside to bring to him, contained five hypodermic needles, two pre-filled syringes of lidocaine and naloxone and an IV bag of dopamine, deputies reported.
Sloop, of 555 Red Leaf Lane, China Grove, was charged with felony breaking and entering and felony larceny, and given a $20,000 secured bond. He refused medical treatment.
Jaycox, of 1745 N.C. 153 N., China Grove, was also charged with felony breaking and entering and felony larceny, and given a $20,000 secured bond.
Deputies contacted the emergency rooms of Rowan Regional Medical Center and NorthEast Medical Center to see if the needles or IV bag were missing.
Officials at NorthEast Medical Center said they had recently filed a report with the Concord Police Department for the missing dopamine and syringes.