Staff report
HAMLET — Officers with the Hamlet Police Department and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office teamed up to take a suspected thief off the streets this week.
Rodney Eugene Odom
Hamlet police officers responded on Tuesday to a report of a break-in at Johnson’s Carports on Spring Street in Hamlet. Workers reported several items were stolen. Later Tuesday, a Hamlet patrol officer spotted a truck with what appeared to be one of the stolen items on the back of the truck.
During the ensuring traffic stop, the driver was questioned and told police that the item had been purchased earlier that morning from a white male that had come to the driver’s home. The motorist gave police a description of the person and the suspect’s vehicle.
The description given by the motorist matched a description by Johnson’s Carports workers gave of a fellow employee. The information the workers gave of Rodney Odom, 46, of Rockingham, including a vehicle description and what he was last seen wearing, matched the information obtained during the traffic stop.
Coincidentally, Odom was stopped by a sheriff’s deputy outside of Hamlet for an unrelated incident. No arrest was made. Police said Odom was driving the same vehicle that the driver questioned during the traffic stop described. Investigators went out and asked Odom to come to the Hamlet Police Department.
Police said Odom arrived voluntarily. After being questioned, Odom was charged with breaking and entering and larceny after a breaking and entering.
Odom was held on a $5,000 secured bond and placed in the Richmond County Jail. Police said some of the stolen items from Johnson’s Carports were recovered and will be returned to the business owner.
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