A case of breaking and entering Wednesday left one Greenville man behind bars.

Robert Bones, a 44-year-old black male, has been arrested and charged with unlawful breaking and entering and fourth-degree theft of property following an incident at a local gas station.

The victim, a South Carolina native, stopped at a local gas station while making her way through Greenville when she noticed that her wallet was missing.

After notifying Lt. Joseph Disney with the Greenville Police Department that she believed her wallet had to have been taken from her car while at the gas station in Greenville, the department then requested to review the store’s security footage.

It was then that Disney was able to identify that a black male had opened the victim’s car door while she was inside the store, reached in and removed the victim’s wallet before walking back to his own vehicle, which was parked next to the victim’s vehicle.

“Lt. Disney then developed a suspect based on the video image,” said Greenville Police Department captain Justin Lovvorn.

“He emailed the victim a line-up, and she identified the person she saw that day parked beside her.”

Disney then located Bones and brought him in for questioning, where he then confessed to the theft of the wallet in addition to showing Disney where he had since placed the wallet.  All of the victim’s property as recovered, except for a small amount of currency.

After being charged with unlawful breaking and entering of a motor vehicle and fourth-degree theft of property, Bones was placed in the Butler County Jail.

Fourth-degree theft of property, a Class A misdemeanor, is theft which does not exceed $500 in value and which is not taken from the person of another.

“We would like to encourage everyone to make sure they never leave their valuables unattended, even for just a couple of minutes,” Lovvorn said.

“A criminal is always looking for an opportunity—don’t provide them with one.

“Lock up your vehicle if you are going to walk away from it and hide anything of value so that it cannot be seen.  Simple actions like these can save you a great deal of potential problems.”