By BOB HIGH

Tabor City Police Capt. Dean Foley’s hunch Thursday night paid off with the quick arrest of four Tabor City men in the armed robbery of the Norris Country Store along N.C. Highway 904 southeast of this border town.

Foley said he was leaving his home and heard Columbus Central broadcast an alert involving a vehicle headed to Tabor City after the 8:50 p.m. robbery of the store where two young males, armed with a .22-caliber rifle, got cash and 20 packs of Newport cigarettes.

“I had a hunch and it paid off,” Foley said Friday. I figured they’d be coming up (N.C.) 904, so I sent two officers to the intersection of 904 and Complex Street to set up a license check. We got lucky. Officers Blake Potter and Dennis Brisson told me they were the third car they stopped,” Foley said Friday.

Sheriff’s detectives were notified and Sgt. David Nobles and Mike Glenn responded.

The detectives charged all four with armed robbery. They are jailed under $40,000 bond each. Arrested were:

• Tawaun Rodon Canty, 21, of Daisy Lane, Tabor City.

• Charles Sharod Canty, 20, of the same Daisy Lane residence, Tabor City.

• Lataurus Clintario Evans, 19, of Grace Street, Tabor City.

• Brandon Markeith Soles, 20, of School Street, Tabor City.

A sheriff’s report noted that two males, one wearing a stocking mask, entered the store Thursday evening armed with a .22-caliber rifle, and took cash from the store’s register, plus grabbed 20 packs of Newport cigarettes.

The report noted the men ran from the store and left the premises in a small car headed toward Tabor City.

Nobles and Glenn questioned the four until almost 3 a.m. Friday and discovered it was Tawaun Canty and Soles who went into the store, while a third stood watch near the ice machine outside the building and one remained in the car.

Foley said his Tabor City officers questioned the four as they arrived at the checking station, and asked for consent to search. Each of the suspects had a new pack of Newport cigarettes, plus a .22-caliber rifle was found in the car’s trunk.

New Police Chief Don Dowless praised Foley for his quick thinking, and Potter and Brisson for their part in detaining the suspects. “I’m pleased they did what they’ve been trained to do, and they did it quickly,” Dowless stated.

“Even if the hunch didn’t pay off, it’s what we should have done to protect the public and help another agency,” Foley pointed out.