Havelock teen charged in Emerald Isle burglary

The Fourth of July weekend was busy in more ways than one for the Emerald Isle Police Department.

As officers kept close watch on holiday activities in the beach community, the department also brought a week of intensive investigative work to a close with the arrest of three people - one from Havelock - accused of a rash of recent burglaries at local businesses.

"I'm just glad it has come to an end," said William Hargett, Emerald Isle police chief. "Our investigators put in a lot of hard work and a lot of hours. I'm happy with the work they've done. We've worked around-the-clock on this for about a week. It has been a high priority case."

While the investigation remains an ongoing one, the arrests Friday put the three suspects in burglaries that began in late June in custody on a string of felony charges.

Victor Manuel Loera Jr., 21, is charged with five counts each of felony breaking and entering, felony larceny and felony possession of stolen property as well as one count each of safecracking by removal and felony conspiracy.

Loera was placed in the Carteret County Jail under a $20,000 bond.

Robert Thomas Hardin, 18, and Juan Esteban Dukes, 17, of Havelock, face the same charges: one count each of felony breaking and entering, felony larceny, felony possession of stolen property and felony conspiracy.

Hardin was placed in the Carteret County Jail under a $10,000 bond and Dukes was placed in custody under a $5,000 bond.

The charges against Loera connect him to the burglaries investigated at five Emerald Isle businesses.

The string of break-ins began June 21 with the report of a burglary at Eagles Beachwear, where about $6,000 in cash and merchandise was taken, a news release states.

On June 24, the owner of Chowdahead's reported that his business had been burglarized the previous night with about $850 in cash taken.

Similar reports followed on June 27 and 29 from Mike's Place restaurant and the Dairy Queen respectively, police said.

In each case, someone entered the building during the night and took cash from the business. More than $8,000 was taken from Dairy Queen and $200 was removed from the register at Mike's Place, police said.

On July 4, Emerald Isle police found that the Emerald Grill had been burglarized, with $977 taken from the register. The safe located in the store had been removed. Officers located the unopened safe near the business.

Police gathered evidence and followed leads, resulting in the development of the three as suspects.

Dukes, who lives on Jer-Mar Drive in Havelock, was questioned as a suspect Friday. According to police, Dukes was preparing to flee to South Carolina at the time he was apprehended.

During an interview, Dukes confessed to having been involved in the Dairy Queen burglary and provided information that allowed Emerald Isle investigators to obtain a search warrant for the home of the other two suspects as well as warrants for their arrest, the news release said.

The search warrant was executed at a home on Canal Drive, where Loera and Hardin live. The two men were taken into custody, questioned and charged at that time.

Police said they recovered a large amount of money and property that had been reported stolen from both the Emerald Isle and Havelock residences. Also seized were items identified as being purchased with the stolen money and a vehicle that was reportedly used by the suspects in the burglaries.

Hargett said two of the suspects were former employees of one or more of the businesses that were burglarized and had knowledge of the business practices and security systems as well as locations where the money was kept.

Additional charges are pending in the case, police said.

Emerald Isle investigators are coordinating with the Cape Carteret Police Department and the Carteret County Sheriff's Office to provide information obtained during their investigation that can help solve cases that have occurred outside of Emerald Isle.