Charges mount for man accused in thefts

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 8, 2011

By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
Charges continue to mount for a man authorities believe broke into more than 20 cars in the Bostian Heights area.
Ricky Wayne Carroll, 28, was arrested on breaking and entering charges at a Kannapolis residence on Nov. 16.
Since then, Rowan County investigators have charged Carroll with more than 30 break-in-related charges, 15 of which are felonies.
Investigators found iPods and laptop computers at the West 22nd Street home during the investigation.
Lt. Chad Moose said investigators still have items at the department that have not been claimed, including a pink iPod with the name Brittany on it.
He asks that anyone with information about the break-ins contact Detective Carl Dangerfield at 704-216-8700 or Crime Stoppers at 866-639-5245.
Elana Watkins said she was “shocked” when Carroll was arrested, especially since he was living at her house.
Watkins had seen things disappearing around her house, she said, but assumed they would turn up soon.
“I know he had taken some things from me, but I never would have thought that it had gotten as far as it went,” she said.
Carroll didn’t have anywhere to go, Watkins said.
So the 33-year-old took him in around the beginning of August.
He stayed at the house, sometimes with his girlfriend, until his November arrest.
Watkins said she thought Carroll was getting his life together, until he started going out with friends, and things around the home, like her kids’ Xbox and video games, started disappearing.
“I brought him here trying to help him,” she said. “It didn’t work out unfortunately.”
Contact reporter Nathan Hardin at 704-797-4246 or nhardin@salisburypost.com.