SALISBURY — A man stopped in Rowan County earlier this month was charged with breaking into a local church. Additional investigation revealed he was suspected of hitting numerous worship houses up and down the East Coast.

Mykal David Charter, 21, along with passenger, Lamaya McClain, 20, both of Greensboro, were taken into custody by Rowan County Sheriff’s deputies following the Aug. 7 traffic stop.

During the roadside investigation, deputies discovered that Charter and McClain were both wanted by Virginia authorities, with full extradition, on charges of felony breaking and entering a place of worship and felony larceny after breaking and entering. Both subjects were arrested on scene and held in the Rowan County Detention Center. 

The sergeant on patrol contacted detectives assigned to the sheriff’s office Criminal Investigations Division (CID), where detectives had been working multiple cases of break-ins that occurred at local churches where high-end keyboards and musical equipment had been stolen.

That investigation began in May when the Cornerstone Church at 315 Webb Road in Salisbury was broken into twice in just a few days. The suspect reportedly took a Nord keyboard valued at $8,000 during the break-in.

CID detectives were contacted by the Salisbury Police Department to let them know they had recently arrested Charter for breaking and entering, which also led to charges of theft of a Nord keyboard. 

Detectives were able to further link Charter to multiple church break-ins and theft of musical equipment from various Rowan County churches. 

Once CID detectives began to investigate Charter, they were contacted by numerous counties throughout North Carolina and other states, including South Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia, regarding similar stories. 

CID offered its assistance to all other departments, which led to those departments taking out warrants on Charter. At the time of arrest, Charter was currently out on over $200,000 worth of bonds from other counties for previous church break-ins which began in May and included Guilford, Wake, Durham and Cumberland counties. 

Rowan County detectives also contacted Brunswick County, Gaston County, Randolph County and Virginia, as they were found to have unsolved church break-ins similar to those in Rowan. After a combined effort, the following charges were taken out by Rowan County, Randolph County, Gaston County, Brunswick County and Virginia: 

• Seven counts of felony breaking and entering into a place of worship 
• Eight counts of felony larceny after breaking and entering 
• Felony possession of burglary tools 
• Damage to property 
• Felony larceny 
• Possession of stolen goods 
• Felony fugitive from justice (VA) 

With the new warrants served, Charter received an additional $250,000 secured bond from Rowan County magistrates, in addition to the nearly $200,000 Charter already had. 

“This case took months to solve and took the joint effort from several law enforcement jurisdictions in North Carolina and surrounding states, as well as the cooperation of the victims themselves, and other good Samaritans,” the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office release said. “During the traffic stop, two keyboards were located and seized and are believed to have been stolen from churches in the Daytona, Florida, area, possibly over the weekend of Aug. 4 and 5. Anyone with information about these B&Es is asked to call Detectives with the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office at 704-603-7366.”

This investigation is ongoing and further charges are expected.