Burke men jailed for burglarizing cop





Two Burke County men picked the wrong property to burglarize.

The metal building they allegedly broke into belongs to a Jefferson County investigator who wasted no time in tracking them down.

Last week, Richard Manton Walden, 35, and Nathan Scott Widner, 30, were charged with a single count of burglary each.

According to Sgt. Dan Lowe, an investigator for the Burke County Sheriff’s Office, authorities from Jefferson County came looking for the pair after linking them to a recent break-in at their fellow officer’s farm in Matthews. The investigator had taken a several thousand dollar hit, listing off losses from a golf cart to assorted tools and sporting goods.

“They drove the golf cart all the way from Matthews to (Walden’s home on) Corley Road,” Sgt. Lowe said, noting the cart was later found at a McBean home where the pair allegedly unloaded it for fast cash. Information that the cart had been repainted at a Nita Walden residence was confirmed when officers found the investigator’s stolen paint sprayer there.

The officer’s fishing poles were inside Walden’s home.

After helping deputies recover several stolen tools, Widener was extradited to Jefferson County.

Walden, who was already wanted here for aggravated assault (Family Violence Act), remains in Burke County Jail.



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