Fayetteville Today

City of Fayetteville Police Department issued the following announcement on Nov. 2.

On Wednesday, November 2, 2022, members of the Fayetteville Police Department’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Team (VCAT) and Gang unit assisted the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) with the arrest of Drayton Charles Bauer, White male, 20 years of age, of the 4900 block of Pinewood Drive in Hope Mills, NC and Brandon Lee Hatler, White male, 23 years of age, of the 2600 block of Belhaven Road in Fayetteville, NC. Both suspects were criminally charged for their involvement in a series of business break-ins spanning several counties that included a vehicle pursuit where Robeson County deputies were shot at. 

Fayetteville Police Department VCAT is a part of the NC SBI Fugitive and Missing Person Task Force. Members of the NC SBI, Fayetteville PD VCAT and Gang unit, ATF, and Robeson County Sheriff’s Office arrested Drayton Bauer and Brandon Hatler at a residence located on the 200 block of Woodglen Dr in Fayetteville, NC.

Bauer and Hatler were charged by Robeson County authorities with two counts each of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of assault on a law enforcement officer with a firearm, eight counts of felony conspiracy, two counts of discharging a firearm into an occupied vehicle, three counts of safecracking, five counts of breaking or entering, attempted breaking and entering, four counts of larceny after breaking and entering, felony speeding to elude arrest, and injury to personal property. Both suspects were transported to the Robeson County Jail and processed for the charges above. Each received a $2,000,000 secured bond.

Authorities in Sampson County, Johnston County, and Harnett County have charged Bauer and Hatler with recent business break-ins in their respective jurisdictions as well.Drayton Bauer and Brandon Hatler were both previously charged by the Fayetteville Police Department's Property Crimes Unit with multiple business break-ins in Fayetteville that occurred in May 2022 where they used a stolen ATV. 

Subsequent to the arrest of Hatler and Bauer, a search warrant was executed at the residence on the 200 block of Woodglen Drive and multiple items of evidentiary value were seized, to include the stolen ATV previously unrecovered from the series of Fayetteville break-ins in May 2022.

This was a collaborative, complex investigation involving multiple local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. This is an ongoing investigation and it is expected that additional charges will be filed in this matter. The Fayetteville Police Department would like to say “Thank you” to all of the agencies involved in this joint effort that brought two violent criminals into custody.

Original source can be found here.