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By Carey Phillips
Two people were charged with felonious breaking and entering after
an incident Saturday at the cashier's office at Eastgate Medical
Center.
Johnny Denard Thomas, 37, of Colonial Heights, Va., and Sharonda
Michelle Haskins, 23, of Petersburg, Va., have both been released
after posting $4,000 bond, according to Sylva Police Chief Jeff
Jamison.
It was the second break-in at the office in three weeks, but the
incidents are not believed to be related, he said.
Kathy Little, a security officer at Harris Regional Hospital,
observed a vehicle in the back of Eastgate shortly before 5 p.m.
and went to investigate, Jamison said. She found a female with
a child in the vehicle and noticed the back door to the cashier's
office open, Jamison said.
Little entered the office and identified herself as a security
officer to a man she found inside.
"He told her he was looking for a security officer, and he
was there about some carpet," Jamison said. "When she
told him she would have to verify that and started to use a phone,
he ran out the door and fled in the car."
Little was able to obtain the vehicle's Virginia license tag number.
Some 15-20 minutes later, a trooper from the N.C. Highway Patrol
stopped to help the occupants of a vehicle with a flat tire at
a service station just off exit 31 on Interstate 40, Jamison said.
While there, he heard a bulletin on his radio to be on the lookout
for the car he had stopped to assist.
Thomas and Haskins were taken into custody and returned to Sylva
by a deputy from the Jackson County Sheriff's Office.
Detective John Buchanan is in charge of the investigation.
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