Accused weapons thief sold to wrong person: a police detective’s friend

A Huntersville man was arrested in the theft of three rifles, a shotgun and a handgun from a Lincolnton area home, after some of the weapons were sold to the friend of a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police detective.

Last Friday, Lincoln County sheriff’s Detective Justin Link received a call from the CMPD detective saying a friend asked him to run the serial numbers on some firearms he’d bought, the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.

The firearms came back as stolen when deputies entered the numbers into the National Crime Information Center, a computerized index of stolen properties and other criminal justice information.

Five weapons were stolen during a Jan. 2 house break-in on Stoney Ridge Road, off Old Mill Road and N.C. 150 east of Lincolnton. They included a Stevens deer rifle, a Remington 12 gauge shotgun and Marlin .22 rifle, which have been recovered and returned to the homeowner. Still missing are an AR15 and a Taurus 9mm handgun, sheriff’s spokesman Larry Seagle said.

The firearms, along with ammunition that also was stolen, are valued at $3,000. The thief kicked open a door to enter the home.

The purchaser told Link he bought the firearms and some ammunition around 3:45 p.m. the same day of the break-in. The guns were stolen and sold before the victim got home from work, the sheriff’s office said. The purchaser told Link he has known the seller for several years.

Thomas Owen King, 31, was charged with breaking and entering a building, larceny of firearms, possession of stolen goods, obtaining property by false pretenses and possession by a felon of firearms. King was served the warrants on Wednesday in the Iredell County jail, where he was being held on unrelated charges. He has since been moved to the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center in Lincolnton on $30,000 bail.

This story was originally published January 12, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Accused weapons thief sold to wrong person: a police detective’s friend."