SALISBURY — A van stolen from New Zion Baptist Church on May 25 was apparently the start of a slow chase across Rowan County by state highway patrol Sunday afternoon, according to reports.

Theft of the van led to theft of a tractor-trailer and an excavator, and the person responsible has a history of stealing trucks and heavy equipment.

Church officials didn’t realize the church office had been burglarized and the van stolen until Davidson County Sheriff’s deputies contacted the church to say they had the church van. That van had been used to crash through a gate where a tractor-trailer was then stolen. That truck had a flatbed, the thief then traveled to a bridge construction site on NC Hwy. 49 between Davidson and Rowan counties.

Church officials reported the burglary and theft to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office May 27. At the time, they noted that the church office, which is normally closed, had been opened, a ceiling tile moved and the office disturbed, and the bag containing the keys to the vehicle was missing. The van’s front license plate and plate holder were subsequently found in the driveway. The van had been abandoned at the gate in exchange for the tractor-trailer.

The thief, identified as Jeb Lee Hampton, 27, of Cleveland, was caught in a highway patrol license check driving the stolen truck Sunday afternoon. He managed to run from troopers, and is now wanted for that larceny, but Hampton is no stranger to this kind of theft.

On April 28, the theft of two 40-foot aluminum van trailers was reported to the Yadkin County Sheriff’s Office. The two trailers were used by a farmer for hay storage. Detectives began investigating and found the trailers at a scrapyard in Iredell County, and some of the hay remained inside.

Eventually investigators developed enough evidence to charge Hampton in the theft, arresting him in Statesville on May 9. At the time of his arrest, police also found a road tractor reported stolen from Catawba County in Hampton’s possession, along with another van trailer he admitted he had stolen the night before.

The Yadkin County Sheriff’s Office, in collaboration with Statesville Police Department and community members of Yadkin and Iredell counties, filed numerous charges against Hampton.

Yadkin County deputies charged him with two counts of felony larceny, two counts of misdemeanor trespassing, misdemeanor larceny and injury to personal property.

Iredell County deputies charged him with two counts of obtaining property by false pretenses, three counts of possession of stolen goods, possession of a stolen motor vehicle, attempting to obtain property by false pretenses and operating a commercial vehicle with no driver’s license.

He was initially given a $700,000 bond that was subsequently reduced and he was able to post bond and be released. He was out on that bond when he allegedly broke into the church and stole the van.

According to reports, when he approached the license check on Stokes Ferry Road Sunday, he informed troopers that he did not have a license before leading them on a long, slow chase that ended on Bringle Ferry Road when the truck ran off the road into a field.

Prior to his arrest May 9, he was arrested on more charges involving the theft of trailers. Police records show that on April 3, 2022, Hampton, who was 24 at the time, was charged with two counts of felony larceny. He was accused of attempting to steal two trailers and an ATV.