MORGANTON - Police in Morganton say they nabbed a man with 300+ video tapes after he was spotted filming children in Morganton while pretending to be a news reporter.

According to police, officers were called out on Saturday when a witness said 51-year-old John David Warlick, of Lincolnton, seemed to be focusing on children while video taping in downtown Morganton. 

The witness, who wished to remain nameless, said Warlick was wearing an obviously altered hat identifying himself as a news reporter. She told officers that she didn't believe the hat was real and contacted police.

BURKE COUNTY - A Burke County man suffered the shock of a lifetime during a pop-up thunderstorm Tuesday night.

Twenty three-year-old Kenneth Davis pulled into his driveway along Airport Rhodhiss Road around 8:30 p.m. when he noticed the storm rolling in.

Click here to view a photo gallery from the scene!

Davis turned to his roommate after getting out of his car and said, "Oh look, a pop-up thunderstorm."  As if on cue, Davis said, a bolt of lightning struck a tree about ten feet from where he was standing. 

By Steve Ohnesorge - bio l email

BURKE COUNTY,NC  (WBTV) – Scam artists based in Jamaica have been targeting elderly people in Burke County lately, according to investigators.

Detective Mike Ollis says they are smooth talkers and have been able to bilk one woman out of $52,000. 

The caller tells the target than he or she has won a brand new car or millions of dollars in cash. The catch is, to collect the prize, the person needs to send what is called a processing fee that will take care of taxes and other expenses.

Ollis was told by one scammer on Thursday that he could get "$5.5 million U-S dollars if he would send $1500." When Ollis informed the man on the other line that he was a detective, and wanted to know more about the scam, the man said "I don't want to talk about that," and hung up.