UPDATED: Two arrested, one sought for robbery, beating of 93-year-old man

Published 10:01 am Monday, February 1, 2021

SALISBURY — Two men face charges and officers are looking for a third man in connection with a robbery that hospitalized a 93-year-old as well as similar incidents in nearby communities.

Alan Hess, a 33-year-old from Lexington, faces charges of first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, first-degree kidnapping, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, felony larceny and felony probation violation. A news release said Lexington Police charged Hess with similar crimes for an incident on Glenwood Drive in Lexington on Jan. 11 and that he remains in the Davidson County Detention Center with a $1.05 million bond.

Hess is also wanted on warrants in Georgia, said Maj. Chad Moose of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.

The Sheriff’s Office on Monday also named Alexander Ballew, a 27-year-old from Guilford County, as a suspect in the Rowan County incident. Ballew is an inmate at the Guilford County Detention Center and will be charged with crimes similar to Hess, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Law enforcement officers are still looking for Dwon Nicholas Still, a 31-year-old from High Point, as part of an investigation that involves the Mocksville, Lexington and Winston-Salem police departments as well as the State Bureau of Investigation.

In the Rowan County incident, attackers rushed into a man’s home on Little Crane Cove Lane late on Jan. 19 while he was letting his dog out. They kicked the man while he was on the floor, resulting in a gash on his head that required staples and on his lip that needed stitches. Moose said the attack was not random and that the perpetrators targeted the Rowan County man.

The Rowan County man, who is now recovering, stopped moving while he was being beaten, the attackers left and the victim called 911.

In an incident in Mocksville, a man wearing a reflective vest came to the door of a couple’s home and said he was working in the area for Energy United, TV station WXII reported. When the male and female victims in the incident asked for identification, another person arrived and the pair forced their way into the home. The men tied up the couple with zip ties and placed them in separate rooms, beating one of the victims and stealing items.

In the Lexington robbery, victims were also restrained with zip ties while the suspects took money and jewelry, the Lexington Dispatch reported.

More charges in the case are possible.