During the month of January 2024, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received two reports of larceny of railroad metal from a property used by a railroad construction contractor off NC Highway 306 South in Aurora.

On February 5, 2024, at approximately 02:29 am, Deputies with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Patrol Division responded to a suspicious vehicle complaint at the same railroad construction property. Responding Deputies located 55-year-old James Thomas Garolds, Jr. and 33-year-old James Thomas Garolds, III, both of Guinea Mill Road in Ernul NC, loading steel railroad plates onto a utility trailer.

As a result, both men were charged with one count each of Felony larceny and held in the Beaufort County Detention Center on a $3,000.00 secured bond. This is an ongoing investigation and additional charges are expected.

Beaufort County Sheriff Scott Hammonds encourages anyone with information regarding suspected drug sale/use or any other crime to contact the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office at (252) 946-0101. You can submit tips anonymously by contacting Beaufort County Crime Stoppers at (252) 974-6400 or submit confidential tips online at www.p3tips.com/195. Beaufort County Crime Stoppers only wants your information, not your name.