HAMLET — One of the men charged with holding up two Dollar General stores over the weekend is now accused, along with a juvenile, of breaking into the Hamlet location last week.
According to the Hamlet Police Department, 18-year-old Jaylan Deshawn Smith, of Wadesboro, and an unnamed 15-year-old used rocks from a nearby apartment complex to break the store’s windows in the early morning hours of May 29 before stealing cigarettes, candy and cellphones.
The department had posted video of the incident which appeared to show a suspect with an orange shirt over his head entering the store.
Investigators say Smith and the juvenile actually changed clothes and took turns raiding the store.
Chief Tommy McMasters said the juvenile’s mother played a role in helping police solve the crime.
“I’m proud that the juvenile’s mother stepped up and facilitated the confession,” he said. “That makes me feel good to know that parents make their kids accountable for their wrongdoings.”
The two are each charged Wednesday with conspiring to break and enter a building to commit larceny, breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering and injury to real property.
Smith was arrested Sunday, along with 19-year-old Terris McLendon, for allegedly attempting to rob the Dollar General on Fayetteville Road in Rockingham and for robbing the location in Ellerbe on Saturday afternoon.
According to the Rockingham Police Department, both men went inside the store, but no money was taken from the first holdup. Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office say Smith entered the Ellerbe store and demanded money while McLendon waited outside as the driver of the vehicle.
They were each charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon and one count each of robbery with a dangerous weapon, attempted robbery with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon and assault by pointing a gun.
Smith is being held in the Richmond County Jail under a combined $510,000 secured bond and he and McLendon are scheduled to appear in court June 13.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Investigators in Rockingham say the Dollar General on E. Broad Avenue in Rockingham was also recently broken into.
According to an incident report, the suspect broke in around 2:30 a.m. May 25 using a blunt object and made off with a cellphone, 25 cigarillos and 60 packs of Newport cigarettes — a combined total of $320 in merchandise.
The crimes committed include breaking and entering, injury to real property and larceny after breaking and entering, however the report does not detail damage done to the property..
