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NCDOT: Memorial Day "Click It or Ticket" Campaign yields nearly 11,000 violations

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013, 3:49pm
NCDOT: Memorial Day "Click It or Ticket" Campaign yields nearly 11,000 violations

The North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Governor’s Highway Safety Program announced Tuesday that nearly 11,000 drivers and passengers were cited for seat belt and child passenger safety violations during the 20th Anniversary campaign of “Click It or Ticket” over the Memorial Day holiday, which was held May 20 to June 2. 

“The safety of everyone who travels our roadways is always a top priority,” said NCDOT Secretary Tony Tata. “Our first-in-the-nation ‘Click It or Ticket’ campaign reminds us that while we’ve made significant progress we still have work to do to encourage every driver and passenger to buckle up.”

Participating state and local law enforcement officers issued the citations during 8,482 checkpoints and stepped-up patrols.

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Homeowner stops home invasion; suspects may have shot at police

Submitted by David Whisenant
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013, 9:14am
Homeowner stops home invasion; suspects may have shot at police

SALISBURY - A homeowners threat of force sent two would be robbers running late Monday night according to a police report.

A man living at 109 W. Steele St. told police that he had left his side door unlocked so that his brother could get into the house when he returned late at night.

The homeowner said that he heard a loud noise at that door and knew it wasn't his brother.  He looked up to see two men wearing bandannas coming into the house.   One man had a shotgun.  The homeowner ducked into a bedroom off the hallway, slammed the door, and yelled to the men that "he had something for them," according to the report.

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Police find stolen pit bulls and motor scooters

Submitted by David Whisenant
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013, 9:05am
Police find stolen pit bulls and motor scooters

SALISBURY - A neighbor's call to police about some strange activity involving pit bulls, scooters, and vacant houses has now helped reunite the owner with their stolen property and puppies.

According to a report at the Salisbury Police Department, a neighbor called police to report seeing two or three young men messing around vacant houses located at 727 N. Lee St., and 125 E. Henderson St.  The caller also said that there appeared to be scooters hidden behind bushes.

Police arrived to find two scooters behind the N. Lee address, and two pit bull puppies at the house on E. Henderson.  Also found at that location was a tent, clothes, shoes, book bags, and tools.  It was later determined that the tools were stolen, along with the scooters that were found at the Lee St.

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Hill asks for lawyer, could face death penalty for Saturday murder

Submitted by David Whisenant
Tuesday, June 11th, 2013, 7:07am
Hill asks for lawyer, could face death penalty for Saturday murder

SALISBURY - A well known local karate instructor who has been charged with the murder of his former girlfriend made his first appearance in court on Tuesday morning.

Wayne Eugene Hill, 55, is charged with first degree murder.

The body of Roxanne Fowler Maddry, 48, was found inside Hill's Poplar Street home in China Grove on Saturday night.  China Grove investigators said that Maddry was killed by blunt force trauma.

After a search that lasted through the night and early morning hours, Hill was found in the woods near the Stanly and Montgomery County line.

A court official told WBTV that local attorney James Davis was assigned to represent Hill.  Hill was also told that if convicted he could face life in prison or the death penalty.

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BBB Warns about door-to-door selling season

Submitted by WBTV Web Staff
Monday, June 10th, 2013, 3:26pm
BBB Warns about door-to-door selling season

Summer is the high season for door-to-door sales of everything from magazines to meat, alarm monitoring services to driveway repaving. Representatives will soon be ringing doorbells and peddling products in neighborhoods throughout the Southern Piedmont. While many of these companies are reputable, a few are not.

The BBB has tips for how you can shop at your front door without being scammed.

Out of all of the products sold door-to-door, magazine sales generate the most BBB complaints. “Some of these companies are legitimate,” said BBB President Tom Bartholomy, “but other companies have generated so many complaints that the BBB has labeled door-to-door magazine sales as a ‘highly-suspect’ industry.”

In the last 36 months, consumers have filed 92 complaints against local magazine sales operations. Charlotte-based Generations Making Differences (BBB grade F) has had 20 complaints filed against it, of which five are unanswered.

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Sex offender charged after moving to home within 100 feet of child care facility

Submitted by David Whisenant
Monday, June 10th, 2013, 8:43am
Sex offender charged after moving to home within 100 feet of child care facility

SALISBURY - A convicted and registered sex offender is back in jail after failing to notify the sheriff that he was moving to a new address, and because that new address is within 100 feet of a child care facility.

According to the sheriff's report, Derrick Gardner, 43, was charged on Thursday with failing to register as a sex offender, sex offender residence violation, and parole violation.  Bond was set at $35,000.

Gardner has an extensive and violent criminal record.  The charges that relate to his status as a sex offender include four counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and solicitation of a first degree sexual offense.  Those charges are from 2003.

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Update: suspect caught hiding in woods after girlfriend found murdered

Submitted by David Whisenant
Sunday, June 9th, 2013, 7:41am
Update: suspect caught hiding in woods after girlfriend found murdered

CHINA GROVE - A woman was found murdered in her China Grove home Saturday night, and after a search through the night, her boyfriend is now in custody facing a murder warrant.

On Saturday at approximately 7:45 PM, officers with the China Grove Police Department received a call to check on the welfare of an individual who had been reported missing to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.   

Reported missing was Roxanne Fowler Maddry, 48.

When police arrived at the home of Maddry's boyfriend, Wayne Hill, at 124 Poplar Street in China Grove, they found the victim’s vehicle at the home, as well as additional items of evidence that led them to believe that Maddry may was inside the home and possibly injured.  

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