Thieves who targeted a southern Davie home last week apparently didn’t get a good look at the driveway.

The van they were in got stuck in a muddy section of the drive off Cherry Hill Road near US 601 South, surrounded by kudzu. All three suspects were apprehended on the scene.

A man returning to his home last Thursday evening encountered the three trying to get the van they were in out of the mud, and he stopped to help them because it was blocking the drive.

It turns out there had already been a report of a breaking and entering at the man’s house. When the first sheriff’s deputy arrived, the men scattered, throwing stolen items into the kudzu, said Davie Sheriff J.D. Hartman.

The officers called for backup, and the suspects were quickly brought into custody, the sheriff said. Then came the hard part – locating stolen property among the kudzu. With help from the Davie County Rescue Squad, they went in with metal detectors and machetes, some holding onto ropes because of the steep terrain.

They recovered a television, computer and jewelry from the kudzu, and a stolen handgun from underneath a trash can near the site.

Hartman said that all three are known members of the Crips gang, and all are being investigated by Rowan County authorities as well as federal investigators.

Charles Jackson, 21, of Salisbury, was charged with breaking, entering and larceny.

Lamichael Feamster, 26, of Salisbury, and Tasman Stockdale, 29, of Winston-Salem, were each charged with breaking, entering and larceny, larceny of a firearm, and possession of a firearm by a felon.