Larceny suspect apprehended at Shell Station

ROBBINSVILLE, N.C. – At approximately 1:15 p.m. Graham County Sheriff’s Office arrested a male at the Shell Station in Robbinsville for allegedly committing larceny.

On Wednesday morning, health department and social services employees discovered that catalytic converters had been cut from four of the county-owned vehicles. The surveillance footage showed two male individuals there after dark and appearing to tamper with county vehicles.

Last night around 1:00 a.m., a man matching the description of one in the county surveillance footage entered the Shell Station and stole between $150 and $250. Today, he returned to the location for unknown reasons and employees called the police. A clerk positively ID’ed the man on camera surveillance.

Deputies apprehended the man from the station’s bathroom where he was flushing the toilet. After a complete search of the car, no narcotics were found.

Graham County Sheriff’s Office later released the suspect’s name, Joseph Pressley, 32, of Marble, NC. He was charged with shoplifting and four felony counts of “injury to property to obtain nonferrous metals” or larceny of catalytic converters. His bond was set at $10,000.

He also has an outstanding warrant in Fannin County, Ga.

The second individual’s face did not appear on camera and the sheriff’s office requests assistance from the public to locate him.

Graham County Sheriff’s Office also thanked the employees of the Shell Station for calling them when the clerk recognized Pressley. The Shell employees did not know about the catalytic converter theft.