Unique bumper sticker leads to arrests in Asheville vehicle vandalism spree

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — After months of investigation, the Asheville Police Department has finally arrested and charged a group of people they believed to be behind smashing more than 100 vehicle windows all over the city.

Detective Jesse Pinkston spoke with News 13 Thursday, March 21, saying officers first began to see the group breaking into Kias and Hyundais last summer. Police believed that was sparked by a social media trend.

It only progressed from there. By January, police said the group had been responsible for more than 100 cases of vehicle windows being smashed.

It upgraded from breaking into vehicles to stealing from vehicles to stealing the vehicles.

THREE PEOPLE, INCLUDING TWO JUVENILES, FACE MORE THAN 200 CHARGES IN VEHICLE BREAK-IN CASE

Pinkston said officers were able to track down the suspects because of a bumper sticker on one of the stolen KIAs.

“Also, inside the Kia when we recovered it had a receipt, and we tracked the receipt down to a local restaurant and pulled video footage,” he explained.

That led to 19-year-old Taysean Green being arrested and facing numerous charges.

Those charges include:

• 29 counts felony breaking and entering motor vehicle
• 2 counts felony larceny
• 2 counts larceny
• 29 counts injury to personal property
• Conspiracy
• 2 counts contributing to the delinquency of a minor

“He is known by law enforcement, and he’s been charged by other agencies for similar things,” Pinkston said of Green.

JUVENILES PEGGED AS SUSPECTS IN STRING OF CAR WINDOW SMASHINGS, ASHEVILLE POLICE SAY

Pinkston said two juveniles are also facing many charges, including breaking and entering, damage to property and theft after breaking in.

Pinkston said while there were only three people charged in this particular instance, authorities believe there are three other groups also breaking into vehicles.

“There’s at least four groups of people stealing Kia’s and Hyundai’s and/or breaking into cars. This is one of the groups,” he said.

ASHEVILLE POLICE HAVE PERSONS OF INTEREST FOLLOWING STRING OF VEHICLE VANDALISM

He said it’s hard to outline or describe why this happened, but the only reason he can think of is that these young suspects all want to gain attention on social media.

Pinkston remained concerned the trend could continue.

“For those few other groups, and we understand it’s an invasion of privacy and it’s really an inconvenience if anything. Fortunately, nobody was hurt with this group, but it’s still a problem,” he said.

Green was booked into the Buncombe County Detention Facility on a $260,000 bond. His next court date is scheduled for April 4.