Teen faces 110 felony charges in Wake, Durham car break-ins spree

A Raleigh teenager was hit with 110 felony charges in a car-break-in spree that stretched across Wake and Durham counties, with investigators saying more than a dozen firearms were stolen as the cases spread through multiple Triangle cities.

Lester Mayo, 18, was served Thursday, May 8, with 38 warrants that also carried 52 misdemeanor charges, Raleigh police said. The case reached beyond Raleigh into Cary, Morrisville, Apex, Garner, Chapel Hill and Durham County, tying together break-ins that prosecutors and police said crossed county lines and city boundaries with unusual speed.

Investigators said the suspects focused on high-density parking lots and construction sites, locations where vehicles are packed closely together and often left for long stretches. That pattern made the crimes especially damaging for drivers who left guns or other valuables inside. Police said more than a dozen firearms were stolen during the incidents.

The arrest also highlighted how long the investigation had been building. Authorities said Mayo had been booked into the Durham County Detention Center twice in April on similar charges and was released both times after meeting court conditions, before investigators linked him to additional crimes over the next three weeks. The sequence raised fresh questions about how a suspect could allegedly keep moving between jurisdictions while the spree continued.

Cary police also arrested Corey Wright, 18, in connection with the case. Wright was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, resisting a public officer and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, and he was held on a $10,000 secured bond. Officials said more arrests and juvenile petitions were expected as the investigation continued.

The new case lands against a broader Triangle pattern. Durham police filed 296 juvenile petitions against five teenagers in a separate vehicle-break-in spree in late 2024 and early 2025, covering 11 locations over roughly a month. Raleigh has also long warned drivers about the scale of the problem: in 2020, police reported 2,520 vehicle break-ins, said 96% of the targeted vehicles showed no visible damage, and said 211 firearms were stolen from vehicles that year.

For Raleigh-area drivers, the warning from police is blunt. Lock cars every time, do not leave guns in vehicles, and do not assume a quick stop in a crowded lot is safe enough to leave valuables behind. In a region where break-ins have moved easily from one jurisdiction to another, the simplest defenses still matter most.