A 39-year-old Chester, South Carolina man is behind bars after Monroe police say he shattered the front glass door of a smoke shop on East Franklin Street early Friday morning, then tried to escape notice by burying himself under trash in a dumpster behind the store. Officers weren't fooled.
Monroe Police responded to a reported break-in at 101 Smoke Shop just after 1:30 a.m. Friday, according to WCNC. When officers arrived, they found the store's front door shattered but the building itself empty, with nothing apparently missing from inside. A search of the surrounding area led police to a dumpster behind the building, where they found Anthony Dwayne White covered in trash and pretending to be asleep.
Police said White's attempt to avoid detection was unsuccessful, and he was arrested at the scene. He now faces charges of felony breaking and entering, felony larceny, and injury to personal property, per the same report. White is currently held at the Union County Detention Center at 3344 Presson Road in Monroe, which is operated by the Union County Sheriff's Office.
A Cross-Border Trip Raises Questions
Chester, South Carolina, White's listed hometown, sits roughly 52 miles southwest of Monroe, according to regional distance data. That distance means White would have crossed state lines before allegedly targeting the smoke shop, though the article notes it remains unclear what drew him specifically to the East Franklin Street location or whether he acted alone. Those questions, including any potential connection to other commercial break-ins in the area, remain open.
The building at 1402 East Franklin Street houses more than just tobacco and vape products — it also hosts an automated Cambio Bitcoin ATM machine on-site, according to CoinATMRadar. Cryptocurrency kiosks inside convenience stores and smoke shops have increasingly become targets in commercial burglaries, though it's not established whether the machine played any role in this incident.
What North Carolina Law Says About the Charges
Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-54, breaking or entering a building with intent to commit a felony or larceny is a Class H felony, carrying a maximum sentence of up to 25 months in prison, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. Separately, under § 14-72(b)(2), any larceny committed during a building break-in is automatically classified as a Class H felony as well, regardless of the value of property taken or attempted to be taken — a distinction from standard misdemeanor larceny, which typically applies only to goods valued under $1,000 absent aggravating factors like a break-in.
The injury to personal property charge stems from the shattered glass front door. Under § 14-160, willfully and wantonly damaging personal property in excess of $200 is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 120 days in jail.
Part of a Pattern Along Monroe's Commercial Corridor
East Franklin Street is a major commercial thoroughfare in eastern Union County, lined with retail centers and service businesses. Monroe Police, which made the arrest, operate out of the Bobby G. Kilgore Law Enforcement Center under Police Chief William “Rhett” Bolen, who has led the department since April 2025 after joining the force in 2004, according to the City of Monroe.
Monroe, the county seat of Union County, has an estimated population of more than 36,000 residents and sits within the fast-growing Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia metro area, per U.S. Census Bureau data. Regional reporting by WCNC Charlotte notes that while overall robbery rates in parts of the Charlotte metro area declined in 2026, commercial break-ins and property crimes remain an active focus for area police departments.
This isn't the first commercial break-in Hoodline has covered in Monroe this year. In July, a store clerk confronted armed burglars at another Monroe tobacco retailer, and police separately sought a suspect following a gas station burglary and truck theft. Earlier in the year, officers also broke up an alleged armed robbery that uncovered a large drug stash. Whether Friday's arrest connects to any of those earlier cases has not been established.
