By Tom Embrey

Senior Writer

Pinehurst police have made a third arrest in connection with a string of burglaries that began in early November and stretched into last weekend.

On Friday, police arrested Carolina King Hudson, 19, of 15 Medlin Road, and charged her with 12 counts of felony possession of stolen goods and four counts of misdemeanor possession of stolen goods, said Deputy Chief Floyd Thomas.

Police say she is the girlfriend of Tyler Sweeney Dawson, who was arrested last Sunday and charged in connection with the burglaries.

Police on Friday also charged Dawson with two additional charges of felony larceny and two counts of possession of stolen goods. He is now facing 54 charges in connection with the burglaries.

Hudson was given a $15,000 unsecured bond, Thomas said.

Officers are continuing to recover stolen property in connection with the thefts, Thomas said.

"We have recovered 20 different golf clubs from Golf Augusta and Bandit Golf Liquidation (both in Southern Pines)," Thomas said.

The department has located 20 more clubs at an out-of-town golf shop, Thomas said. Those clubs are expected to be returned to the department sometime next week.

Police Chief Earl Phipps called the case a "real house of cards" that is rapidly falling down. He credited a sluggish economy for the recovery of so much of the stolen property.

"I have never been part of a case where so much of the property taken has been located and will be returned," said Pinehurst Police Chief Earl Phipps said.

Police arrested Dawson, 23, of 16 Cedar Lane, Pinehurst, and have charged him with, among other charges, 13 counts of felony larceny and 15 counts of possession of stolen property.

A day later police nabbed Dustin Gerard Euston, 23, of 126 Fuller's Way, Aberdeen. Euston faces two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of stolen goods. He is also facing additional charges from the Moore County Sheriff's Office, including possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of stolen property.

Pinehurst Police got the break they needed last Sunday when a convenience store clerk provided them with the description of a man believed to have stolen a stain-removing pen from the Short Stop on Rattlesnake Trail.

An officer on routine patrol located the suspect's truck at a home on Medlin Road. Officers approached the house and asked the vehicle's owner for permission to search his vehicle.

That's when officers found golf items and a cellphone in plain view that had been taken in an earlier burglary Sunday morning. At that point, Dawson was taken into custody and officers obtained a search warrant for the home.

Police said Dawson was found to be wearing shoes that matched earlier cast impressions from burglaries in November. Several stolen items were recovered during the home search.

During the burglaries, the suspect took mainly golf gear and small electronics, including laptops, cellphones and iPads.

Thomas has said police had spoken with Dawson twice during the ongoing investigation of the burglaries, but he was not a suspect then. The burglaries occurred within a few blocks of where Dawson was living.

The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information in the case should call the Pinehurst Police Depart-ment at (910) 295-3141.

Contact Tom Embrey at (910) 693-2484 or tembrey@ thepilot.com.