Photos by MATT GENTRY The Roanoke Times

Adrian Williams, owner of Super Val U Grocery in Newport, says he installed security cameras and moved packs and cartons of cigarettes behind the counter to make them more difficult to steal.

Russell Alls of Precision Glass of Christiansburg, who was replacing Super Val U's glass doors Thursday, says he isn't surprised that cigarettes are being targeted in break-ins. This piece of broken glass on his truck was from another break-in that targeted cigarettes, he says.

NEWPORT -- In the past several months, Adrian Williams took measures to try to prevent thefts at his business, the Super Val U Grocery.

He installed security cameras, including one that records everything going on at the counter, and, following in the footsteps of many convenience store owners, moved cigarettes behind the counter to make them more difficult to steal.

But cigarettes were the apparent target of a break-in late the night of Oct. 11 at the store, which sits just off U.S. 460 on Virginia 42. Someone rammed a pickup truck into the double glass doors and took about 60 cartons -- worth nearly $2,600 -- from behind the counter in less than a minute.

"Of course I was shocked, but I shouldn't be," Williams said.

Cigarettes seem to be the target in an increasing number of thefts as the prices and taxes on them rise. The Super Val U break-in is one of at least three reported thefts of multiple cartons being investigated in the New River Valley in the last month.

One pack of brand-name cigarettes can cost more than $5 at Super Val U, including a federal tax of $1.01 and a state tax of 30 cents per pack. A carton can cost more than $50.

Still, that's cheap when compared with prices in most states. According to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Virginia's statewide cigarette tax is the second lowest in the country.

New York City residents pay the highest cigarette taxes, with state and local taxes adding up to $4.25 to a pack.

"Cigarettes are getting high-dollar anymore," Lt. Ron Hamlin of the Giles County Sheriff's Office said. "Some people take them across state lines and sell them."

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office is investigating a break-in shortly after 2 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Triangle Market on Radford Road.

Someone got inside by throwing a rock through the window and crawling through the hole it made, Lt. Norman Croy with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said. About a dozen cartons of cigarettes were taken, he said.

Surveillance cameras captured the image of a man wearing a yellow hooded shirt and with his face covered. The suspect's vehicle is described as a dark-colored mid-1990s Ford F150 or F250 with aluminum wheels. Wooden pallets were in the bed of the truck at the time of the break-in, Croy said.

The sheriff's office is looking for any information, including anonymous tips, about the incident.

Christiansburg police are investigating the possible theft of about 69 cartons of cigarettes.

According to a search warrant affidavit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court, a man was seen placing two boxes in the back of a pickup truck at Speedy's on Roanoke Street during the same time a cigarette truck made a delivery last month. At his next stop, the truck driver noticed that two boxes were missing.

A man's home has been searched in that case, but no one has been charged. According to the affidavit, someone reported that the man who had been seen loading boxes into his truck tried to sell some cartons of cigarettes the same day.

As he finished work to replace Super Val U's glass doors Thursday afternoon, Russell Alls of Precision Glass of Christiansburg said he wasn't surprised that cigarettes are being targeted in break-ins.

He pointed to a sheet of shattered glass resting on the side of his truck. It was the glass broken in the Triangle Market break-in the day before, he said.

"We see it all the time," he said. "Used to be cigarettes and beer, but now cigarettes are so high they just take them."

"They're taxed so high, and you can turn them over," Williams said.

At Super Val U, footage from surveillance cameras caught clear images of two people carrying cartons of cigarettes.

Kimberly April Rhoten, 46, of Camp Creek, W.Va., was arrested by officers from the Mercer County (W.Va.) Sheriff's Office nearly two weeks after the incident. She is charged with breaking and entering, grand larceny and destruction of property.

Hamlin identified a second suspect as Stanley Wayne Farley, 56, also of Camp Creek, W.Va.

He said when officers showed up at Farley's home, Farley got away. Rhoten was arrested there.

Some cigarettes were recovered from Farley's residence, Hamlin said.

Williams said surveillance camera footage showed that the theft took only about 50 seconds. The thieves went straight to the counter where cigarettes are stored, grabbed what they could and took off.

"They knew what they were coming for," he said.