On Dec. 20, Macon County Detectives arrested Gregory Thomas Bufkin, a local Fed-Ex driver, in relation to numerous breaking and enterings in the Highlands/Scaly Mountain area.
Over the past several weeks, multiple thefts have been reported in the Highlands area. Detectives with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office have conducted multiple interviews and followed up on several leads, which did not result in any arrest or recovery of property. Investigators have also been working closely with the Highlands Police Department during the course of these investigations.
On Dec. 16, Macon County Sheriff Robert Holland told The Highlander that many of the homes were not occupied, which is one of the problems with this case.
“As it is with a lot of residences, there are not people living there at all times,” Holland said. “Then you have a period of time where people are in these houses and then a period of time when they are not, so we can’t exactly tell when these break-ins occurred. In many cases, people don’t have caretakers or people looking over their house regularly. So, they don’t discover when their house has been broken into until they return. Then, that gives the thief plenty of time to get rid of those items that they stole.”
On Monday, a homeowner called Holland about seeing a deputy inside her residence on her home surveillance camera and wanted to know what was going on and why a deputy was in her residence. Holland contacted the deputy assigned to the Highlands area and learned that the deputy was still inside the residence who was there because someone reported an open door, and he was currently searching the home for any intruders.
Upon completion of a thorough search the deputy was able to determine that there was no one in the residence. Later in the day, the same homeowner contacted Holland and reported having a man on video earlier in the day on her security camera. Homeowner said he appeared to be wearing shorts and was there for just a brief time and fled when he saw her camera. Investigators with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office were able to identify that individual and were able to quickly locate him at his residence. Investigators were also able to confirm the man seen in the video was a FedEx driver who worked in the Highlands area.
Throughout the night, interviews were conducted with the suspect who is identified as Gregory Thomas Bufkin, a local FedEx Delivery Driver. Investigators seized several pieces of evidence which included multiple pieces of jewelry and two firearms. Some of the items seized were found to be inside Bufkin’s work vehicle.
“While this case remains very active and we continue to follow up with information obtained during interviews, we can tie Mr. Bufkin to thefts in at least 11 breaking and enterings in the Highlands area,” Holland said. “While we have solved multiple thefts in our area, some items recovered are from thefts that have not been discovered by homeowners and therefore have not been reported.”
Holland said this is an on-going investigation and additional charges are forthcoming.
“These officers have done a tremendous job and continue to work extremely hard to resolve all the cases they are assigned,” Holland said. “As I said to a member of our local media last week, this is personal to these investigators, it’s ‘their’ case and they want nothing more than to solve the case for those victims they are working hard for.”
Additional cases are expected to be reported in the coming days and weeks as part time residents return to their vacation homes. As with these cases, most of the residences victimized were done because they were found to have unlocked doors and open windows.
Bufkin’s charges include:
7 Counts - Felony Posses Stolen Goods
7 Counts - Breaking and Entering
7 Counts - Larceny After Breaking and Entering
6 Counts - Larceny of a Firearm
Bufkin is currently being held at the Macon County Detention Center under a $180,000 secured bond.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Macon County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division 828-349-2107. You can also download the Macon County Sheriff’s Office App and provide tips anonymously from your cell phone or call our CRIMESTOPPERS Hotline at 828-349-2600.
Break-ins on Bowery Road
Three miles away from Horse Cove, another unoccupied home break-in is being investigated by Highlands Police Department.
On Dec. 14, officers received a report that a local landscaping company had found an open door at 599 Bowery Road. When officers arrived, the property caretaker reported items missing and property damaged.
According to a statement from the Highlands Police Department, it is unknown at this time if the break-in on Bowery Road is connected with other break-ins that have occurred in the Horse Cove area.
“Our department is committed to community safety and is pursuing all available leads to investigate this case,” the statement said. “We are working with the Macon County Sheriff’s Office to determine if there is any connection to the break-ins in the Horse Cove area. As always, we encourage the community members to be watchful and to report any suspicious activities in their neighborhoods.”
If anyone has any information on this crime or others, they can contact Detective Kevin Breedlove at 828-526-9431 or by email at kevin.breedlove@highlandsnc.org
Staying safe during the holidays
With the holiday season upon us, Holland gave some tips to ensure that packages don’t go missing and houses don’t get broken into.
“One thing that people need to be aware of, is that USPS and FedEx are delivering a lot of packages and leaving them at peoples’ doors,” Holland said. “When those things start piling up, if you don’t have a camera system, or somebody watching your place, then that is a perfect opportunity for a thief to ride by your house, see those packages and walk up and take them.”
Another safety tip, that Holland said he needs to work on, as well, is writing a list of all his items’ serial numbers.
“I’ll admit that I have been guilty of this, but we don’t properly document our items,” Holland said. “We don’t take a photograph of our television or write down the serial number. In a court of law, when we go to a pawn shop, and we find a 40 inch, RCA T.V., there may be 10 of them in there that look just alike. You as a victim, have to identify that as your T.V., and if you’ve got 10 T.V.’s that look just like yours, without that serial number of identification it’s hard to prove.”
Having a quality security system is another way Holland said residents can be safe during the holidays.
“A good camera system is fairly cheap nowadays,” Holland said. “We always encourage that and an alarm system. Also, people that are out of town and have packages delivered, we encourage them to know their neighbors and have that package delivered to their neighbor instead of their empty home. Same goes with mail. A lot of people during this time are getting Christmas cards filled with gift cards and we will get people stealing those a lot of times during the holidays.”
- By Christopher Lugo