Sept. 18--LUMBERTON -- A South Carolina man has pleaded guilty to burning 28 storage units in Lumberton earlier this year and been sentenced to serve several prison terms and pay more than $83,000 in restitution.
Jonathan Brooks Pressley, 31, of Hemingway, pleaded guilty on Sept. 11 in Robeson County Superior Court to burning of a structure, misdemeanor trespassing and property damage, according to Lt. Brian Duckworth of the Robeson County Sheriff's Office. He was given five sentences of seven to 18 months in prison with four of them suspended, Duckworth said.
Pressley will be on supervised probation for five years after he is released from prison, Duckworth said.
Pressley and Jeremiah Jermaine Weaver, 26, were charged with setting fire to storage units at Nobles Storage on Starlite Drive in Lumberton on Jan. 26.
The fire destroyed 28 units in a block of 32. After the fire was extinguished, officers discovered that someone had broken into nine of the units and stolen items.
"There were 17 or 18 victims plus the owner," Duckworth said. "They had to replace the whole thing."
Officers followed a trail to an apartment complex about 200 yards behind the facility, where officers found more stolen property in the trunk of a car, Duckworth said.
"They had used a hand truck ... and the wheel fell off. As it went, it wore a little trench into the ground, and officers just followed the trail all the way back to the apartments," Duckworth said.
Weaver is still awaiting his court appearance, Duckworth said. He said the Fire Marshal's office assisted in the investigation.
Copyright 2013 - The Robesonian, Lumberton, N.C.
