Riggs pleads to felony charges
Last August, Jackson County deputies responded to reports of a vehicle fire on Parris Branch. They arrived to find a 2008 Mercury Mariner burning. A torn shirt sleeve, shoved into the gas tank, served as a rough-hewn wick.
When a car sped by, deputies followed. They stopped the car. Among the six people inside they found Quentin Riggs, 25.
At his feet, the Sylva man had a backpack with a mobile video recorder inside, as well as the owner’s manual for a 2008 Mercury Mariner.
District Attorney Ashley Hornsby Welch said Jackson County Schools owned the recorder — stolen from school bus No. 27 — and the compact SUV. Both were taken from the parking lot of Scotts Creek Elementary School, she said.
Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Bradley B. Letts ordered Riggs to spend a minimum of 40 months and a maximum of 84 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections.
Riggs pleaded guilty to three counts felony larceny of motor vehicle; three counts felony larceny; two counts possession of methamphetamine; attempted obtaining property by false pretenses; felony breaking and entering a motor vehicle; burning personal property and felony possession of a motor vehicle.
The string of crimes started in January of last year and ended in May of this year.
