Public safety officers are investigating the theft of lawn mowers and other equipment valued at more than $13,000 from a Union business.

The theft was reported Thursday at Owens Lawn and Garden on 409 Union Boulevard. Owner Bryan Pilkington told Cpl. Dell Mitchell that items were taken from a storage lot outside the business, including a 6x14 utility trailer worth $1,500, two yellow Great Dane GD SS 60 Super Surfer stand up mowers worth $5,000 each, two Stihl F1500 backpack blowers worth $500 each, two Stihl FC75 stick edgers worth $300 each, a Stihl string trimmer worth $400 and a back pack sprayer worth $119.

Pilkington said the gate lock for the area where the equipment had been stored was not cut.

“We think it happened in broad open daylight,” Pilkington said. “We leave the gate open all day.”

Pilkington said the Great Dane stand up mowers stand out because they are not as commonly sold as other commercial mowers are.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call Union County Crime Stoppers at 427-0800 or the public safety department at 429-1713.

Drug charges

Five people have been arrested on drug charges, including one caught in a joint drug sweep by city and county officers.

Jessie Lee Rice, 21, of 109 Hamlet St., was charged Thursday by the Union Public Safety Department with distribution of marijuana and distribution of marijuana within one-half mile of a school. Arrest warrants said Rice sold marijuana to an informant on Lipsey Street on May 13. The sale occurred within one-half mile of Excelsior Middle School.

Rice was arrested in “Summer Slam,” a joint illegal drug crackdown by officers with the Union County Sheriff’s Office and the Union Public Safety Department.

Four arrested

In an unrelated case, four people were charged Sunday with possession with intent to distribute marijuana after a traffic stop by sheriff’s deputies.

Charged were Marcus Dewayne Smith, 31, of 141 Oak Grove Road, Union; Nicholas Howard Bobo, 22, of 123 Sanders Road, Union; Cassie Nicole Fox, 25, of 126 Polly Lane; and Erica Danielle Fowler, 19, of 1041 Peach Orchard Road. Bobo also was charged with driving under suspension.

A report said officers stopped a car driven by Bobo on Brown’s Creek Church Road. During the stop officers found two bags of marijuana in Smith’s pockets. Bobo’s license had been suspended for a controlled substance violation.

Man arrested

Edward Wayne Boulware, 43, of 107 Francis Ave. was charged Thursday by the sheriff’s office with filing a false police report and obtaining drugs by fraud and deceit.

On July 23, officers were called to a residence on Francis Avenue to meet with Boulware. He told them a 48-year old man struck him in the face with his fist and took his medication. Warrants said officers investigated and found out Boulware’s claims were not true; he was using the claim to try and get additional medication from his doctor.