Blotter: Two face charges for stealing church’s trailer

Published 3:56 pm Friday, August 6, 2021

SALISBURY — A Mocksville and Salisbury man face felony larceny charges for stealing a trailer owned by a church and used by its Boy Scout troop.

Jessie Tillman Dilbeck, a 37-year-old Salisbury man, was charged Wednesday with felony larceny and failing to appear in court for an unrelated charge. He’s joined by a 31-year-old from Salisbury named Jonathan Wade McDaniel in being charged for the larceny.

Maj. John Sifford said the trailer was filled with items and placed in the parking lot at Union Lutheran Church, which is located at 4770 Bringle Ferry Road, when it was stolen. The church’s youth group was planning to go on a mission trip and loaded up the trailer with personal items, food and tools on June 19. The following morning, Rowan County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to the church after the single-axle trailer was hauled off by a GMC Envoy. Two men were spotted on surveillance cameras.

The trailer was painted hunter green and had logos for Boy Scout Troop 334 and the church on the side.

It was found on Wiley Lane, a short distance away from the church. When a Rowan Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived at a residence in the 400 block, a man alleged to be Dilbeck ran toward the woods. Deputies attempted the follow the man and use a K-9 to track him, but they were unsuccessful.

Painted blue, the trailer contained none of the missing items except a pair of flip flops and gloves, Sifford said.

McDaniel was arrested in June at the Aldi warehouse on Old Union Church Road and confessed to taking the trailer, Sifford said. Dilbeck was stopped by a Highway Patrol trooper Wednesday on Interstate 85.

Dilbeck remained in jail Friday afternoon with a $25,000 bond.

In other Rowan County Sheriff’s Office reports:

• A woman reported credit card fraud Wednesday resulting in a loss of $4,655.

• A woman reported wire fraud Wednesday resulting in a loss of $1,900.

• A man reported a vandalized car Wednesday in the 100 block of Knotty Pine Circle in Salisbury.