Two Marines dine & dash at Waffle House, then destroy helicopter

Two Marines turned themselves in after dining and dashing at a Waffle House, and then vandalizing a helicopter in Havelock, North Carolina.

According to Havelock police officials, the two Marines climbed on top of an RF-4B phantom II plane located at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center. The men took photos once on the aircraft.

Security footage also captured both men attempting to spin the blades of a HH-46E model helicopter climb inside it as well. Their efforts left the helicopter with roughly $1,000 in damage and several broken windows.

Security footage from the Havelock Tourist and Event Center show one of the two Marines on top of the RF-4B Phantom. This photo was posted on the Havelock Police Department’s Facebook page.

Havelock, North Carolina has long been home to Cherry Point U.S. Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS).

Aviation curator for the city, Richard Hazlett said, “This particular airplane means a lot to Eastern North Carolina because of all of the lives over the years that they’ve rescued or gotten out of the hurricane situations.”

The destruction by the two Marines was reported at approximately 3:00 AM, about an hour after the two ate without paying at a local Waffle House. Havelock police posted a photo to Facebook of the two men in the Waffle House, one of whom wore a a USMC sweatshirt.

The Havelock PD Facebook post read, “The two males walked out of the restaurant without paying for their food. Waffle House reviewed their video camera footage and recognized the two males from the Tourist & Event Center footage.”

Officials ultimately credit the Waffle House dine and dash for placing the two Marines at the scene of the vandalism. If they had paid the bill for their meal, it might not have been as easy or at all possible to have identified them in the Tourist Center security video.

The two Marines were “charged with injury to real property and a city ordinance violation of disorderly conduct.”