The Mathews County Sheriff’s Office spent six months investigating a string of business burglaries in conjunction with the sheriff’s offices of Gloucester and Middlesex counties, culminating in the arrest and indictment of Fred Christopher Pryor, 67, of the 7600 block of Bellehaven Drive, Gloucester.

He was indicted by a Mathews Grand Jury on one count of grand larceny, two counts of burglary, two counts of petit larceny, three counts of tampering with a meter device, and three counts of destruction of property. He is being held at the Northern Neck Regional Jail.

According to a press release from Sheriff Mark Barrick, deputies first responded to a call at JL Marine Repair and All Around Auto in Cobbs Creek in October 2020. The owner had arrived at his shop to find that the power was out and both businesses, which share a common building, had been burglarized. The meter box had been pried off the side of the building, and entry had been gained through a rear door, where the glass had been broken out. The only thing missing was the safe.

In February 2021, deputies responded to a call at North Star Market at North, where an employee had arrived to find that all the lights and gas pumps were off. Entry had been gained by prying open the front door, and an undisclosed amount of cash had been taken. Once again, the power meters had been removed, killing the power to both the market and the adjacent North Post Office.

Last month, the sheriff’s office received a call from an alarm company saying there was an active burglar alarm at the front door of the FasMart convenience store at the corner of Buckley Hall and Twiggs Ferry roads. Deputies arrived to discover the front door had been forced open with a prying tool and the safe had been opened, with an undisclosed amount of cash missing. The electric meter box had once again been disconnected, and the meter removed from the meter box. Shortly afterward, Gloucester County sheriff’s deputies arrested Pryor.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office at 804-725-7177.