A 29-year-old man accused of breaking into a defunct James City County golf course and cutting batteries out of golf carts is heading to a grand jury.
Benjamin Hogge and 27-year-old Adam Alspaugh were arrested in November after video footage showed two people trespassing on Colonial Golf Course in Lanexa, police said.
The two men were originally charged with two counts each of grand larceny, conspiracy to commit grand larceny, larceny with intent to sell, obtaining money by false pretenses and breaking and entering.
All but one count of grand larceny, one count of conspiracy to commit grand larceny and one count of buglary were dropped against Hogge on Thursday at a preliminary hearing in Williamsburg-James City County General District Court, where three witnesses testified, Hogge’s attorney Joshua Goff said.
The cameras were installed in August after maintenance workers reported significant thefts of copper pipes from the buildings and thefts of golf cart batteries.
Police said a maintenance worker found three golf cart batteries with their wires cut outside of the garage Nov. 4 after seeing a man in a white Jeep Cherokee on the premises near the golf cart garage.
Court documents show Alspaugh sold 24 golf cart batteries — valued at a total of $3,500 — to James City County Recycling that day.
The golf course’s surveillance video from the day before also showed two people trespassing on the golf course around 11:30 a.m. That day, Alpsaugh sold 115 pounds of copper to James City County Recycling.
A grand jury will now have to decide if there is enough evidence to move the case forward to a trial in circuit court.
A grand jury has already returned an indictment on one of Alspaugh’s grand larceny charges, and the other one was dropped in January. Alspaugh is scheduled to enter a plea for the single grand larceny charge at 1 p.m. Feb. 25 in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court.
Related Coverage:
- One Man Accused of Stealing Golf Cart Batteries Heads to Grand Jury
- Two Men Accused of Stealing From Closed JCC Golf Course
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that one count of grand larceny, one count of conspiracy to commit grand larceny and one count of burglary were certified during Hogge’s preliminary hearing.
