In December of 2022, the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division began receiving reports from various businesses and churches in the community for thefts of air conditioner units. These reports continued to come in until late June of 2023, totaling six reports. Investigators began reaching out to other agencies within our county and outside of our county to see if they were seeing the same problems. Investigators found that Chesnee Police Department, Rutherfordton Police Department, Shelby Police Department and Forest City Police Department all had thefts of air conditioner units matching what investigators with the Sheriff's Office were seeing. In total there were eighteen thefts spread across all the jurisdictions listed. After a long and tireless effort, warrants have been secured on Carl Dewayne Guin of the Harris community for these thefts. The Sherriff and the members of the Criminal Investigations Division would first like to thank the victims of these incidents for their patience and understanding, as this was a long investigation. We would also like to thank all the agencies involved for their help and support. This is yet another testament to the old saying “Team work makes the dream work.” Without the partnership with these other agencies, it is our belief, we wouldn’t have been able to put all the pieces to this investigation together. Mr. Guin is currently incarcerated in Spartanburg County jail on state charges in South Carolina and a fugitive warrant in North Carolina. Once his charges are dealt with in South Carolina he will be extradited back to North Carolina and face his slew of charges we have waiting on him.
