Vandalism leaves foul odor in house

By RICHELLE BAILEY
Media General News Service
Published: July 25, 2008

An act of vandalism to an Horry County attorney’s home in the Western North Carolina Gateway Mountain community of Old Fort was just stinking wrong, residents say, so they’re offering an $11,000 reward for information about the culprits.

And McDowell County Crimestoppers might add to that.

Around 8 p.m. on July 19, one of the folks in the upscale development noticed a window broken out and a foul odor coming from the home of George Thomas Samaha at 144 Winning Way. Samaha doesn’t live in McDowell County full time. He is an attorney in Little River, and rents his property on Gateway Mountain, according to a report by Deputy B.D. Ballew III of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office and Garry Kepley, president of the board of directors of the Gateway Mountain Home Owners Association.

Kepley said the neighbor called security officers, who went inside Samaha’s house and found that someone had scattered animal feces throughout it, even in places like the refrigerator. Ballew’s report stated that the perpetrator also left water running in various places in the home.

The vandalism occurred sometime between 6 p.m. on Saturday, July 12 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 19.

Kepley stated that there have been disagreements between folks in the community in the past and minor instances of theft and vandalism but nothing to this degree.

The Home Owners Association is putting up a $1,000 reward and three individual property owners pitched in another $10,000 for details leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the vandalism at Samaha’s residence.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office at 652-4000 or McDowell County Crimestoppers at 65-CRIME. With Crimestoppers, your identity remains anonymous, and you could receive a cash reward.