A North Carolina State Highway Patrol trooper is accused of stealing $5,000 worth of exercise equipment from a gym before it reopened to the public amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to authorities.
The Gastonia-based officer, Jerome John Letcavage, 44, was charged with larceny on Saturday afternoon and released with a written promise to appear in court, news outlets reported, citing the Gaston County Sheriff's Office inmate database.
The trooper was accused of taking weights and resistance bands from a local YMCA on Wednesday, three days before it officially reopened, WCNC-TV reported. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper lifted restrictions Friday that had kept such exercise centers closed for months during the pandemic.