LINCOLNTON, N.C. – The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office detectives have charged one person with the theft of tools from a North Star construction site on Wilma Sigmon Road, Lincolnton, NC and another with possession of a stolen vehicle.

Deputies received a report on November 29, 2021 about tools being stolen from one work truck and a second work truck, a 2001 Ford F350, being stolen. Deputies observed locks on two tool boxes on the back of trucks had been drilled out and various tools valued at more than $5,500 had been stolen.

As the investigation continued, it was determined that a work truck in another part of the work site had been stolen. That vehicle was equipped with a GPS monitor and was located by a company employee in the 400 block of Massapoag Road. While at that location, a white Ford Expedition drove slowly by the scene. The license plate number was checked at the vehicle came back as stolen out of the City of Lincolnton. Officers located the vehicle occupied by two people at a home in the 200 block of Crescent Court. The car was occupied by Michael Alexander Bishop, 19, of 200 Crescent Circle, Lincolnton, NC and a female passenger.

Detective J. Link charged Bishop with two counts each of larceny of a motor vehicle and possession of stolen goods. He is also charged with trespassing and was placed in the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center under a $33,000 secured bond and a no bond hold for Catawba County.

During the investigation deputies learned that another stolen vehicle was being operated by someone who stayed at the Crescent Court residence. Detective J. Lail conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 700 block of Highway 27 West. RZ Pat Estep, a convicted felon, was driving the vehicle and also armed with a firearm. A passenger in the vehicle, Katherine Ruth Pell, 41, was arrested on outstanding warrants. The vehicle, a pickup truck, has been stolen in Gaston County and was returned to the owner. Estep, 39, was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon. He was taken before a Lincoln County magistrate and placed in the Harven A. Crouse Detention Center under a $20,000 secured bond.