MEDIA RELEASE
CONTACT:  Angie Grube
Public Information Director, SBI
agrube@ncsbi.gov
 
September 28, 2021
 
 
SBI Agents Arrest Former North Topsail Beach Police Officer
 
Raleigh, NC – The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has arrested a former police officer with the North Topsail Beach Police Department (NTBPD).  On March 8, 2021, the SBI was requested by the North Topsail Beach Police Chief to investigate the suspected theft of several firearms that had been secured in the evidence section of the police department.  During the course of the investigation, it was determined that numerous firearms had been taken from the evidence section of the department and had been sold and/or pawned at local pawn shops.  On Monday, September 27, 2021, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Mark William Ray, Jr., (DOB: 10/16/1979) of Jacksonville, North Carolina, turned himself in at the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office where he was arrested by an agent from the SBI’s Coastal District.  Ray has been charged with 15 counts of obtaining property by false pretense, one count of embezzlement and one count of felony conversion.  After going before a magistrate, Ray was issued a $75,000 unsecured bond. 
 
If anyone has any information about this investigation or purchased a firearm from Ray during the period of 2016 to 2021, please contact the NTBPD at 910-328-0042 or the SBI at 910-346-2121.  No additional information is available at this time.