ROCKINGHAM — Two men and a woman were reportedly caught in the act of trying to steal property earlier this week.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the 911 Center received a call on Wednesday, Sept. 6 from someone who was holding three suspects at gunpoint at his Hamer Mill Road home.
The three suspects — 29-year-old Gage Ryan Coons, 32-year-old Amber Laureen Ponds, and 34-year-old Timothy Paul Oquinn, all of Rockingham — had allegedly forced entry into the home and were loading property onto a truck when the homeowner arrived.
All three were arrested and each charged with one count each of breaking and entering, damage to personal property and larceny after breaking and entering. Each is being held in the Richmond County Jail on a $15,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 21.
(Note: A press release from the sheriff’s office indicates they were charged with injury to real property, but online jail and court records show the charge as injury to personal property.)
Online court records show Oquinn has a pending charge of second-degree trespassing from 2022.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Oquinn was convicted of misdemeanor larceny in 2012.
In 2014, Oquinn was convicted of attempted breaking and entering a house of worship. His initial probation was revoked the following year, leading to a near-six-month incarceration. He went back to prison in 2016 for another six months on a post-release revocation.
Oquinn was convicted in 2018 of possession or distribution of a meth precursor in Anson County and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance in Richmond County. He was given a suspended sentence in both cases, but his probation was revoked in 2019, landing him behind bars for 17 months.
Coons was convicted in 2017 of possession of drug paraphernalia in Stokes County and given a suspended sentence.
Ponds appears to have no prior convictions in North Carolina.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
