King, North Carolina, authorities have charged two people from Radford with larcenies from automobiles in the Stokes County area.
Darren Craig-Maurice Palmer and Margarita Lised Aguilar-Salmanca
Police arrested Darren Craig-Maurice Palmer, 26, of Fairlawn and Margarita Lised Aguilar-Salmanca, 24, of Pulaski.
According to police, the two were taken into custody after a report of a suspicious vehicle in the Jefferson Wood Housing Development.
A number of unlocked vehicles had been entered with cash and other items being taken from at least 10 vehicles and residences.
Aguilar-Salmanca was operating a black Mazda 3 with a Virginia license plate. Stolen items found in the vehicle were cash, ammunition, cell phones, keys and credit cards.
Police say the arrest came about as a result of an ongoing investigation with Virginia State Police on an estimated 1,000 incidents of vehicle break-ins across North Carolina and Virginia recently.
Aguilar-Salmanca and Palmer were arrested on the scene and initially charged with felony breaking and entering of a motor vehicle and felony larceny from a motor vehicle. The two were each issued a $10,000 secured bond, pending court in Forsyth County on November 18.
Additional charges could be forthcoming, and the two are expected back in Forsyth County Court Nov. 18.
In addition to the recent North Carolina charges, police across state lines are investigating whether the two could be involved in hundreds of similar incidents here in Virginia and possibly the New River Valley.
Last month, the Christiansburg Police department had reports of similar larcenies and captured camera footage of a car similar to the one Palmer was arrested in.
According to Christiansburg spokesperson Melissa Demmitt, no link has been established, but investigators are looking into the case to see if the suspects could be the same ones involved in the incidents in the NRV.
— Staff reports
