Suspect accused of swiping 11 signs from 3 WakeMed hospitals in 1 day

One Saturday in October, a Raleigh man who was on parole from prison for larceny convictions went to the WakeMed hospitals in Garner, Cary and Raleigh and stole a total of 11 metal signs valued at more than $10,000, according to hospital police.

The police swore out an arrest warrant on Nov. 13 naming Michael Dennis Brown, 57, who lives on Woodcrest Drive in Raleigh. He was charged with three counts of felony larceny.

Monday, the charges were officially served on Brown, who had been in state prison since Oct. 29, the same day authorities arrested him on a breaking-and-entering charge.

According to the charges from WakeMed police, Brown took five “decorative metal signs” from the Garner hospital and “approximately” three signs each from the main hospital in Raleigh and the Cary facility.

WakeMed spokeswoman Kristin Kelly said Tuesday that the stolen items “ranged from larger branded signs to smaller directional and pedestrian crossing signs.”

Altogether, police said, the signs were worth $10,245.

Based on information in the warrant, the value of each sign ranged from $838 to $1,150.

Brown had been brought from prison back to the Wake County Detention Center on Monday because he was due in court in connection with multiple breaking-and-entering charges as well as felony and misdemeanor larceny and other charges.

Those events, on Oct. 22 and 29, and the theft of the WakeMed signs happened in a little over a month since Brown was paroled from prison on Sept. 16.

Brown had been convicted last December of two felony larcenies in Wake County and had been in prison from then until his parole.

State officials revoked his parole on Oct. 25, and he went back to prison Oct. 29. Right now, Brown is scheduled to be released again next July.

This story was originally published November 21, 2017 at 12:18 PM with the headline "Suspect accused of swiping 11 signs from 3 WakeMed hospitals in 1 day."