FRANKLIN CO., Va.—
Two men have been indicted on charges of breaking into a Franklin County tobacco shop.It happened Feb. 3 at AJ's Pipe and Discount Tobacco.
19-year-old Justin Ball of Rocky Mount and 20-year-old Stephen Leftwich of Roanoke have been indicted on burglary and larceny charges.
A store employee noticed cigarettes and incense (which investigators say are often represented as synthetic marijuana) had been stolen from the store.
About a week later, a resource officer at Franklin County High School identified a juvenile student selling synthetic marijuana.
Police later found a large amount of stolen incense.
Here is the news release from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office:
On February 3, 2012, the Office of the Sheriff, County of Franklin, responded to a reported burglary at AJ’s Pipe and Discount Tobacco. The burglary was discovered by an employee arriving for work. Cigarettes and Incense (often represented as synthetic marijuana) were reported as items stolen.
On February 9th 2012, Deputy Jeff Sanders, who is assigned as a High School resource officer, relayed information that he had identified a male juvenile who was distributing synthetic marijuana. As a result of this information, Investigator Brian Webb, recovered a large quantity of the stolen incense from a residence near A. J.’s tobacco on February 9th. Investigator Brian Webb’s follow up investigation identified another juvenile male along with adults Justin Ball, 19, of Rocky Mount and Stephen Leftwich, 20 , of Roanoke, as the persons responsible for the burglary and larceny.
Ball and Leftwich were indicted for burglary and Grand Larceny by a Franklin County Grand Jury on March 5, 2012. Both have been arrested on these charges. Juvenile petitions were also obtained for the juvenile offenders.
