Four men including one on federal probation have been charged by multiple agencies with breaking into business and stealing safes.

The four men charged, including two brothers, are all from the Wilson area and face counts in Halifax County, according to Chief Deputy Scott Hall of the sheriff’s office.

Hall said the sheriff’s office began its investigation on October 27 after receiving a report of a breaking and entering in Enfield in which a safe containing an undisclosed amount of money was stolen from a business.

That investigation led detectives to discover an attempted break-in of another business in the Enfield area, Hall said. The men were apparently startled by a passing vehicle, he said.

Halifax Detective R.M. Brown led the local investigation as the Rocky Mount, Wilson, Louisburg and Zebulon police departments investigated similar crimes and worked as a team to solve the cases.

In the gallery from left: A. Batts, Spells, T. Batts and Ward:

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Arrested earlier this month were brothers Anthony Tyrone Batts Jr., 26, Tyrone Batts, 25, Malik Spells, 26, and Demetric Ward, 24.

Brown charged the four with breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, possession of stolen goods and attempted breaking and entering.

The Batts brothers and Ward received $5,000 bonds while Spells, the one on federal probation, received a $50,000 bond. They have January 27 district court dates in Halifax County.

Spells has already appeared before Magistrate Judge Robert T. Numbers II in Raleigh as the federal court system begins the revocation process of his federal release, according to court documents.

He made his first appearance on November 17 and is scheduled for a final revocation hearing on December 13 before District Judge James C. Dever III.

On June 9 of last year Spells was sentenced to 24 months in prison and three years of supervised release for possessing a weapon as a convicted felon.