During the early morning hours of Feb. 7, William Tyler Ward, 22, and Tyler Andrew Ayers, 24, both of Chocowinity, were arrested by the Washington Police Department and charged with multiple counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle and larceny of personal property including firearms.

The two were caught in recent possession of stolen property after the police department received a report of a car break-in from a residential neighborhood. They were also found in possession of stolen property from the recent break-in of a business just outside the Washington city limits.

Between September 2016 and January 2017 the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received more than 25 reports of car break-ins from citizens in the Whichards Beach area of Beaufort County. Knowing that both Ward and Ayers were suspects in those break-ins, officers notified the sheriff’s office of the arrests. With similar crimes being reported in Pitt County, both the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office and the Greenville Police Department joined the investigation.

During a search of the homes and vehicles of both Ward and Ayers, conducted by all four agencies, investigators located stolen property from the Whichards Beach Road break-ins. After conducting interviews with both men, Beaufort County Sheriff’s investigators charged Ward with 41 felonies and 15 misdemeanors. Ayers was charged with 48 felonies and 15 misdemeanors. The charges include breaking and entering a motor vehicle, larceny, including larceny of firearms, breaking and entering a building and safecracking and injury to personal property. Both were taken before a magistrate and ordered held on a combined secured bond of $160,000 for all the charges. Ayers also faces similar charges in Pitt County.

After further investigation into this rash of motor vehicle break-ins in Beaufort County, both Ward and Ayers now face four more counts of felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle and four more counts of misdemeanor larceny. Three of the charges stem from break-ins in that occurred in the Pamlico Village neighborhood just east of Washington. The fourth stems from a later report of a motor vehicle break-in off of Whichards Beach Road. Ward, who is still in the Beaufort County Detention Center, had an additional $15,000 added to his bond. Ayers, who is currently being held in Pitt County, has not been served with the new charges.