By Sarah Nagem
snagem@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE ó Until recently, Tina Austin got good grades at South Rowan High School, liked to go shopping with her younger sister and was a devoted mother to her young son, Austin’s family said.
But her life has taken a drastic turn. Rowan sheriff’s deputies arrested Austin, 16, and three other teenagers this week and accused them of operating a theft ring authorities believe is responsible for multiple break-ins.
So far, authorities have charged Austin and the three others with one count each of misdemeanor and felony breaking and entering, and felony larceny. Those charges stem from break-ins at Austin’s parents’ house at 135 Cedar Ridge Lane on Oct. 8 and 9.
In addition to Austin, the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested Derrion Crawford, 16, of 707 Valley St., Landis; Dustin Hartsell, 16, of 309 N. Moriah St., Landis; and Timothy Wiseman Jr., 17, of 162 Kitty Lane, China Grove.
Investigators discovered the theft ring after responding to a 911 call from Austin’s parents’ house Oct. 8, Capt. John Sifford said.
Around 5 a.m. that day, Austin showed up at her parents’ house, where she had been living, according to her mother, Robin Austin.
She said her daughter had been staying elsewhere sometimes.
“She said, ‘Mama, I’m coming back home,’ ” Robin Austin said Tuesday while sitting at her kitchen table.
Tina went into her bedroom and grabbed some clothes for her 19-month-old son, Robin said. Then she tried to leave again.
Tina’s father, Bobby Austin, said he tried to stop his daughter from leaving the house, and she yelled for help to two boys standing on the front porch.
“One had a knife, one had a gun,” he said. “So I shut the door and locked it to keep Tina from going out.”
The boys, who were wearing ski masks, started pushing on the door, Robin Austin said.
“They broke it all the way open,” she said.
Tina ran out the door, and Robin Austin called 911 and told investigators her daughter had run away.
Around 5:30 a.m., Bobby Austin said, one of the boys who had been on the porch returned. The boy tried to enter the house through the front door, but Austin held it closed.
The family called 911 again.
The next day, Bobby Austin said, he left the house for about eight minutes to go to the store. When he returned, he said, he saw a boy carrying a bag near the house.
“I chased him out in the woods,” Bobby Austin said. “He got away from me.”
When he entered his home, Bobby Austin realized many items had been stolen, including jewelry, his pain medication, tools, a cell phone and some of Tina’s sister’s clothing.
Meat also was missing from the freezer. “They cleaned our freezer out,” Robin Austin said.
The thieves had tried to break in through the back door, but the dead bolt wouldn’t give, Robin Austin said. They also broke the bathroom window.
While investigating the break-in at the Austin house, sheriff’s investigators discovered Tina Austin and the teenage boys might be responsible for a spate of recent car break-ins, Sifford said.
Authorities searched Wiseman’s Kitty Lane home Sunday and arrested Austin and Crawford there.
Detectives also arrested Wiseman at some point.
Authorities continued to look for Hartsell Monday, until he he turned himself in Monday night.
During the search of the house on Kitty Lane, investigators found several items that had been reported stolen from vehicles and residences in the Grace Ridge subdivision, Proctor Drive neighborhood and the Country Club of Salisbury area, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
They also found items that had been reported stolen from homes on Main Street in Landis and Old Beatty Ford Road in China Grove.
The stolen items included computers, GPS units, cell phones, video games and pocketbooks.
Sifford said other charges might be filed against the teens. (See accompanying list of break-ins in which the teens are suspected.)
Robin and Bobby Austin think their daughter got involved with a bad crowd.
“She ain’t never give us no trouble before,” her mother said.
They said Tina earned As and Bs in school and was a member of the JROTC at South.
For the past five months or so, she has worked at Outback Steakhouse in Salisbury, her parents said.
None of the three boys arrested this week is the father of Tina’s baby, Robin Austin said. The baby is staying with his paternal grandmother now. Robin desperately wants to see him.
“I miss my grandson,” she said.
Robin and Bobby Austin said they are still in shock about their daughter’s behavior.
“She’s hanging around the wrong people,” her father said.
They said they don’t have money to post her bond.
Bobby Austin was injured in a work accident, which led to him receiving the pain medication. Robin Austin works at Porky’s Barbecue in China Grove.
“I don’t hate my daughter,” Bobby said. “She’s still my daughter, you know?”