News

Deputies charge woman as habitual burglar

Opal Dawn Byrnside

By Bill Moss, Published: May 30, 2013

Henderson County sheriff's deputies charged a 30-year-old Hendersonville woman with habitual breaking and entering and two other felony theft charges after a Memorial Day burglary in Edneyville.

Deputies say Opal Dawn Byrnside broke into the residence and took jewelry and loose change. True to her alleged pattern, investigators say, she had broken into the home of a Hispanic family because she believed Hispanics would be less likely to report crime.

Officers identified her as a suspect and recovered the jewelry on Wednesday with assistance from the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, a news release said. Byrnside remains in the Henderson County Detention facility under $35,000 bond.

Byrnside was recently released from jail and is currently on probation for break-ins she committed in Henderson and Transylvania Counties in 2012. During the 2012 crime spree Byrnside targeted the residences of members of the Hispanic community thinking they would not report the crimes against them, the sheriff's department said in a news release. She is awaiting trial on similar charges in Buncombe County.