Authorities at the right place, right time capture home invasion suspects

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Union County sheriff’s detectives were staking out an area at about 3:30 p.m. Thursday in the Hampton Meadows neighborhood off Goldmine Road near Wesley Chapel when they saw two males leave a red vehicle.

The suspicious people put on ski masks and hoodies and kicked in the front door of a residence in the 5300 block of Willow Run Drive.

Detectives "noticed they started putting on ski masks covering their faces putting hoodies on their heads, then they made their way toward the house and kicked the front door in," said Tony Underwood with the Union County Sheriff’s Office.

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Patrol officers were called in and after a short time, the intruders left the house carrying a bag and got back into a vehicle where a driver was waiting.

Authorities stopped the vehicle near Goldmine Road and Corporate Center Road.

"I heard sirens, and I saw a lot of sheriff's office deputies driving really fast down the street," neighbor Shannon Skiscin said.

Two of the suspects were taken into custody and the third fled on foot but was apprehended a short time later.

Inside the vehicle, authorities found a 9 mm handgun, Taser, cellphones, ski masks and about 1,100 Xanax bars.

The three suspects were Gabriel Alexander Oyuch, 20, of Matthews, Jaydan Burwell, 20, of Charlotte, and Michael Lamonte Byrd, 24, of Charlotte.

"I've never (sic) known nothing to happen,” neighbor Tammy Heath said. “I've fallen asleep with my door unlocked."

Detectives then executed a search warrant for the home and found marijuana, about 200 Xanax bars, Roxicodone and more than $2,400 in cash.

The two people arrested in the home were Michael Joseph Tabbit, 18, of Wesley Chapel, and Jonathan Troy Sierski, 20, who lives at the house.

Oyuch was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit a felony, felonious breaking and entering and possession with intent to sell and deliver a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Burwell was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit a felony, felonious breaking and entering, felony larceny and possession with intent to sell and deliver a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Byrd was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to commit a felony, felonious breaking and entering, felony larceny and possession with intent to sell and deliver a Schedule IV controlled substance.

Tabbit and Swierski also face numerous drug charges.

“Outstanding police work,” Union County Sheriff Eddie Cathey said. “Deputies were in the right place at the right time to apprehend armed criminals who boldly entered an occupied residence in the middle of the afternoon. A situation like that could have ended much differently.”

The home invasion was not a random crime, authorities said.

Cox Media Group