Women accused of stealing thousands of dollars in baseball bats arrested in Asheville

By Dean Hensley and Ed DiOrio

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    ASHEVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Three women accused of stealing bats from the company D-BAT were apprehended by Asheville police on June 23 near its Asheville store.

“Officers responded, and one of the employees of D-BAT was pursuing three women who had stolen high-end baseball bats from the baseball training facility,” Asheville Police Senior Officer Kermit Smith told News 13. “The employee pursued them all the way to the Ascot Point Circle, where they hid in the bushes. Officers located them.”

At 2:23 p.m. Asheville officers responded to a report of three females accused of stealing bats from D-BAT at 1262 Hendersonville Road. Asheville police said the three women fled on foot.

All three, Veronica Constantin, 41, Alexandra Lonescu, 31, and Jennifer Antonesco, 21, were charged with felony larceny.

They are accused of stealing baseball bats estimated at $3,850.

“They’re linked to similar cases throughout North Carolina,” Smith said.

According to a June 26 news release from the Asheville Police Department, Charlotte media outlets reached out to Asheville police on June 24 regarding a larceny of bats from several D-BAT locations in the Charlotte area, including Concord and Huntersville.

“People, or a group, get together and can commit crimes that create a pattern for themselves,” Smith explained when saying the women could be a part of a larger operation. “If things get too expensive and people can’t afford it, they start stealing. Usually, with these organized rings, they have specific targets in mind in what they’re looking for.”

In surveillance video obtained by WSOC-TV in Charlotte, three women were seen on video stashing the bats in their skirts at the D-BAT store in Huntersville.

“(Bats) don’t have serial numbers usually, and they’re easy to get rid of on the internet,” Smith said. “Anybody that has a kid that plays ball knows how expensive that gear can be.”

Asheville police said it reached out to agencies in the other municipalities to inform them of the arrests.

Police said all three were booked into the Buncombe County Detention Facility on June 23 with an initial bond amount of $5,000. The Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said all three bonded out.

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