ROCKINGHAM — Two men are accused of stealing tools from Richmond County’s iconic racetrack.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were dispatched to Rockingham Speedway on Tuesday July 16 — three days after the track’s open house event — for a reported larceny.
Deputies were reportedly told that the suspects had taken tools and equipment from a construction company doing work at the track and were caught on camera.
Specific items were not listed in the press release issued June 18.
Deputies later stopped the suspects’ vehicle on Battley Dairy Road and found the items that were reported stolen, according to the sheriff’s office.
The suspects, 37-year-old Bryan Dean Starling and 26-year-old Emanuel Montcourt Bauza, were arrested and each charged with: conspiracy to commit felony larceny; breaking and entering; felony larceny; obtaining property by false pretense; possession of burglary tools; possession of stolen property; injury to personal property; first-degree trespassing; and injury to real property.
Montcourt was also reportedly served with an order for arrest for failing to appear in court.
Starling is being held on a combined $55,000 secured bond; Montcourt is being held on a combined $43,000 secured bond, which also includes a probation violation. They are scheduled to appear in court Aug. 1.
Online court records show Montcourt has a pending charge of obtaining property by false pretense from 2021.
Starling has several other pending charges from this year: communicating threats; simple assault; possession of a controlled substance on prison or jail premises; possession of tobacco by an inmate; and driving while license revoked.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Starling has a criminal history dating back 20 years with multiple breaking and entering and larceny convictions.
Starling was first convicted in 2004 on misdemeanor counts of larceny and possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance. His probation was revoked the following year when he was convicted on another count of misdemeanor larceny and he served less than two months in prison.
In 2007, Starling was convicted on two counts of cheating property or services and one count of felony breaking and entering. He was initially given a suspended sentence, but his probation was revoked on the B&E conviction and one of the cheating charges, resulting in a 16-month imprisonment.
Starling has been in and out of prison with convictions in 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2017 on charges including felony larceny, felony breaking and entering, first-degree trespassing and resisting a public officer
In 2020, Starling was convicted of habitual breaking and entering, breaking and entering, larceny from the person and receiving stolen goods, serving 18 months in prison. He was released in June of 2022, but returned for a three-month reimprison violation by that October, and again for six months in 2023 on a post-release revocation. He was released Oct. 28, 2023.
Montcourt’s only conviction in North Carolina was for possession of drug paraphernalia last year in Moore County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
