Pittsboro, NC – A Florida man has been charged in connection with a residential burglary and the theft and fraudulent use of financial cards following an incident reported in northern Chatham County late last month.
On Dec. 24, 2025, deputies with the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office responded to a reported larceny from a motor vehicle at a residence on Bennett Mountain Trace, Chapel Hill. The victim reported that someone had entered their garage and then entered an unlocked vehicle, stealing a wallet that contained a Lowe’s Home Improvement card and a Home Depot credit card.
Investigators determined the stolen cards were used later that morning at multiple retail locations. A purchase was made at Lowe’s Home Improvement on Fordham Boulevard in Chapel Hill. At approximately 8:59 a.m., an attempted purchase at Lowe’s Home Improvement Store on Fayetteville Road in Durham was declined after the transaction triggered a fraud alert. Investigators also identified a transaction at a Home Depot in Durham.
Through review of surveillance footage from those stores, investigators observed a white male using the stolen cards to make the purchases. Along with additional verification measures including tattoo comparisons and inmate photographs, investigators identified the suspect as James Dwane Hayden, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Hayden has been charged with one count each of first-degree burglary, breaking or entering a motor vehicle with theft, larceny after breaking or entering, obtaining property by false pretenses, and two counts of financial card theft. All charges are felonies.
Hayden is scheduled to appear in Chatham County District Court at the Chatham County Justice Center in Pittsboro on Feb. 9, 2025. Bond information was not available at the time of this release, pending service of arrest warrants.