Deputies: Homeowners’ son catches man stealing items from carport | Crime

The Lexington County Sheriff’s Department arrested a Gaston man on charges that he stole items from a carport, according to sheriff’s deputies.

Deputies say on Sunday, 36-year-old Robert Leonard Cooper, III stole one wood-handled knife and one metal file that is used to work on wood from a carport outside a home on Corley Mill Road near Lexington.

An arrest warrant alleges around 12:15 p.m. on Saturday, September 22 Cooper entered the carport at the Corley Mill Road home with the intent to steal items. Cooper possessed and tried to steal the wood-handled knife and metal wood file, according to sheriff’s deputies.

Deputies say Cooper dropped the items 20 yards from the carport when he was confronted by the homeowners’ son.

The homeowners’ son provided deputies with the South Carolina license plate number for a 1997 GMC Jimmy sport-utility vehicle that Cooper used to drive away from the home.

Deputies determined that the sport-utility vehicle was registered to Cooper’s wife.                       

Officers arrested Cooper about 7 p.m. on Sunday at his Gaston home on an arrest warrant on a charge of second-degree burglary.

Cooper was being held on Monday, September 24 at the Lexington County Detention Center on a $20,000 bond.