Two arrested in eastern NC connected to multiple crimes in the mountains, officials say

BUNCOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — A multi-agency investigation that's spanned nearly two years has led to the arrest of two people accused of multiple crimes in Western North Carolina.

The Buncombe County Sheriff's Office announced on Friday that two people who were arrested in Goldsboro in 2021 have been connected to several vehicle break-ins that took place in the mountains in 2020.

The sheriff's office said back in August 2020, the department had received multiple reports of vehicle break-ins in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest and surrounding area. In several cases, the suspects "broke into the vehicles using a key punch and stole credit and debit cards," the sheriff's office said in a press release. Those cards were used to purchase "high end electronics, luxury items, and gift cards."

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After establishing this pattern over a six-month period, 17 additional cases in the Bent Creek area were identified where the suspects repeated this pattern of theft. The North Carolina Wildlife law enforcement division in Transylvania County also identified multiple cases in their jurisdiction that matched the same patterns as the Buncombe County cases, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office said numerous other agencies were brought in to assist in the investigation, including the U.S. Forest Service, State Bureau of Investigation, Blue Ridge Parkway Police, North Carolina Wildlife, and the U.S. Secret Service.

Thank you to Detectives Brooke Barnette and Michael Thueme at the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office for their persistence in handling this investigation and special thanks to these agencies and partners:

Wayne County District Attorney’s Office, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, Goldsboro Police Department, U.S. Forest Service, NC SBI, Blue Ridge Parkway Police, North Carolina Wildlife, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Secret Service, and the North Carolina Arboretum Police.

In February 2021, the Goldsboro Police Department, with the assistance of multiple agencies, arrested Patricio Ricardo Lagos Erazo and Belgica Belen Rivera. After searching their rental vehicle, officials said they discovered thousands of dollars in gift cards, fake identifications including identification cards, passports, and credit cards issued to false aliases. During the course of the investigation, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office executed a total of 10 search warrants.

The sheriff's office said the U.S. Attorney's Office is handling the prosecution of the case due to the "criminal activity taking place across state lines."

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Erazo pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit access device fraud (credit card/debit card fraud) and was sentenced to 14 months in prison earlier this year, the sheriff's office said, while Rivera is still awaiting trial.

“This was a complex, multi-jurisdictional criminal operation," CID Captain Angie Tullis said in a press release. "Through an extensive investigative collaboration these individuals were identified and apprehended. The diligence of everyone involved in working this case is appreciated and commended."