A Lexington man convicted in the 2017 robbery of a Morganton jewelry store will spend 8 to 11 years in prison.

36-year-old Shannon James Diehl was handed the sentence in Burke County Superior Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to all charges.

He has been convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery with a dangerous weapon, and three counts of second-degree kidnapping.

A news release states video surveillance from the store showed two suspects enter the store – one with a pistol.

The suspects forced three employees against a wall; while they proceeded to smash display cases with hammers, stealing more than 430-thousand dollars worth of goods before fleeing the scene.

Reports say they were later apprehended in Lenoir.

A man previously convicted of statutory rape in Burke County in 2014 now faces additional charges.

27-year-old Malachi Thomas Owens has now been charged by McDowell authorities with a sex offender registry violation; in that he failed to report a change of address.

Owens was sentenced to serve 72 to 96 months in prison and was released in September 2018.

He then registered as a sex offender in McDowell County and was living on Baldwin Avenue in Marion.

State probation and parole officers informed the Sheriff’s Office in late January that Owens was no longer living there; that he had in fact moved to Morganton and had not made authorities aware of the move.

Owens has been charged with a parole violation.

A Lenoir couple faces multiple drug charges following an early morning search of their residence Wednesday.

39-year-old Kenneth Joe Taylor and 41-year-old Patricia Diane Bare both of 207 Whitnel Place were arrested following a month long investigation by Lenoir authorities.

Narcotics officers assisted by the Special Response Team found and seized 103 grams of methamphetamine, a pistol, 6 long barreled firearms, and more than 11-hundred dollars in currency.

Taylor and Bare each face felony charges of trafficking in meth, the manufacture, sell, or deliver controlled substance within 1000 feet of a school, maintaining a vehicle or dwelling for a controlled substance, and the manufacture of a schedule two controlled substance.

In addition, Taylor was charged with felony possession of a firearm by a felon.

He received a 500-thousand dollar secured bond; while Bare was issued a 400-thousand dollar secured bond.

Both have initial court dates set for today.

A news release states the drugs seized at the residence were valued at 15-thousand-450 dollars according to NC state guidelines.

A residential robbery in Hickory Tuesday leads to the arrest of two women.

Reports say Hickory Police responded to a robbery on Sixth Street Southwest where a 21-year-old female gave officers a description of the suspect vehicle.

Officers later spotted the car and arrested both 27-year-old Ashleigh Young of Conover and 27-year-old Tristan Smith of Hickory.

A search of the pair reportedly turned up point-7 grams of cocaine on Young.

Young was charged with one felony count each of common law robbery and possession of a controlled substance.

She is also reportedly charged with one misdemeanor count of simple assault on a handicapped person.

Smith was charged with one felony count of common law robbery.

According to reports, the 420-dollars that was stolen from the victim was recovered and returned.

Young received a 15-thousand dollar secured bond, while Smith was issued a 2-thousand dollar secured bond.