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Brian Koontz, North Carolina man, charged with theft of 100 meteorites, report says

Brian Koontz Transylvania County Sheriff's Office

(CBS/AP) BREVARD, N.C. - A North Carolina man was charged Saturday night with the theft of 100 meteorites from a science education center. Police are still searching for a second suspect.

Brian Koontz, 29, is being held at Transylvania County jail on charges of breaking and entering, larceny and injury to personal property, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported.

Video surveillance shows two thieves breaking into the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute near Rosman around 3 a.m. on Christmas Eve. The thieves allegedly took meteorites that were on loan to the institute, in addition to taking television monitors, overhead video projectors, a microscope and other scientific instruments.

Sheriff's detective Wade Abram says most of the stolen items were recovered from one of the suspect's homes.

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