ROCKINGHAM — Two men are facing multiple charges for allegedly trying to steal from a coin machine.
According to court documents, 28-year-old Matthew Ryan Johnson and 35-year-old Frederick Warren Loftis broke into a building on Biltmore Drive, breaking a crawl space door, and attempted to steal $50 in quarters from a coin machine on Dec. 8.
The address in court documents corresponds to the car wash on that road.
Both men were arrested and charged with one felony count each of: breaking and entering; attempted larceny; possession of burglary tools; and conspiracy.
(Note: The magistrate’s orders do not list what type of burglary tools were used. The text for that charge for both defendants appears identical to the previous charge of breaking and entering.)
They are also each charged with a single misdemeanor count of injury to real property and resisting a public officer.
Johnson and Loftis are each being held in the Richmond County Jail on a $25,000 secured bond and they are scheduled to appear in court Dec. 19.
Online court records show Loftis is also facing pending charges of misdemeanor larceny and second-degree trespassing from an incident at Walmart in October.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Loftis was first convicted in 2017 of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance.
In May of 2021, Loftis was convicted of possession of both a Schedule I and Schedule II controlled substance and initially given probation. However, that was revoked in October that year when he was convicted on two counts of breaking and entering vehicles and one count of possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance.
Loftis served five and a half months behind bars, and went back to prison for another three months for a violation.
Johnson appears to have no prior convictions in the state.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
