ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- Police say a 21-year-old man has been charged with stealing a collection jar for donations to the family of a slain North Carolina Highway Patrol trooper.

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The Asheville Citizen-Times reported Thursday that authorities charged Tanoli George of Cherokee with taking the collection jar for the late Trooper David Shawn Blanton Jr.'s family from a Jackson County gas station. The station is near the entrance to the Cherokee Indian reservation.

 

Jackson County Sheriff's Capt. Steve Lillard said George already was in custody for thefts in the Qualla community.

 

Lillard said it wasn't known how much money was in the collection jar.

 

George was arrested with others on Aug. 13 and an officer noticed that he fit the description of a man wanted for taking the donation jar.