By WECT Staff | October 16, 2020 at 11:29 AM EDT – Updated October 16 at 11:29 AM
TABOR CITY, N.C. (WECT) – Columbus County deputies say a man admitted to stealing several concrete statues out of a woman’s yard and selling them for cash.
According to a news release, deputies responded to a home on Willoughby Road outside of Tabor City on July 27 after a 90-year-old woman reported that ten of her statues and three concrete benches were taken from her yard.
After the incident, family members helped set up a surveillance system on the victim’s property.
On Sept. 21, the woman contacted the sheriff’s office again and said her cameras caught the alleged suspect, Frank McLeod Phillips, 60, drive up in a Nissan Altima and steal more statues out of her yard.
Investigators located the Altima, which matched the vehicle caught on camera, at a home on Willoughby Road. During an interview, Phillips, who lives on Ray Street in Tabor City, admitted to taking the statues and selling them for cash.
The statutes were later recovered and returned to the victim.
Phillips was arrested on Oct. 9 and charged with felony obtaining property by false pretense and misdemeanor larceny.
He was given a $3,000 bond.
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