Neighborhood faces issue with looters after storm

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Downed trees, flooding and no power. For one community in Pender County, they thought they saw the worst of it. Now they’re dealing with another problem: looters.

“It’s devastating. I mean we’ve already lost everything we’ve owned,” neighbor Jaime Hairr said.

As people in Hampstead’s Cross Creek community continue to rebuild, they say looters have tried to take what’s left in the neighborhood.

“Here they are, these people coming in taking the last little salvageable things that they have,” neighbor Sarah Robles said.

Neighbors say they have heard of at least five times looting has happened. Hairr’s home was looted and he doesn’t know why people would do this.

“Put yourself in my shoes and imagine losing everything you own and then have someone come take their- the rest of the stuff that you have that’s salvageable. I mean…just kind of lost at words,” Hairr said.

The Pender County Sheriff’s Office has more patrols in the area but the community says they want some help with security, they were told the sheriffs office is stretched too thin. So they’ve started their own security watch and for any looters who come back, these neighbors are armed.

“There’s no explanation for that except that’s just complete scum. You’ve got to be a terrible person to come in here to people that are already suffering,” Robles said.

For now, they will keep their eyes peeled while helping each other rebuild and try to find some normalcy. We reached out to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office to find out if they would increase security in that area. We have not heard back from the sheriff if he will do anything else.