By Nathan Hardin
nhardin@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — A Salisbury business owner is offering a $500 reward for information in a vandalism case that cost his logging company thousands of dollars.
Charlie Shepherd, owner of S&S Logging, said he and his brother returned Monday morning to a construction site near Sherrills Ford Road and found heavy damage to construction equipment around the site.
Deputies said a suspect pried open the doors of several pieces of heavy machinery and tore wiring out of the consoles.
Many of the gauges were also destroyed and a glass window was shattered in one of the vehicles, according to a Rowan County Sheriff’s Office report.
But Shepherd said most of the damage had been repaired by Tuesday morning.
“It cost us a day and a half of working to get everything fixed,” Shepherd said. “It’s probably cost us, well with the fuel and oil filters, about $3,500 so far.”
Shepherd said dirt and trash was stuffed into the fuel tanks in most of the heavy machinery.
“For the most part, we’ve got it all back going,” Shepherd said.
Investigators have seized evidence from the scene, including a hammer found on the ground next to the equipment.
Authorities ask anyone with information to contact the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office at 704-216-8700 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245.