SMITHFIELD, N.C. — Just more than two months after a 4,000-pound rock was reported stolen from private property, another rock theft has been reported in Smithfield.

Thomas White, 47, of Brogden Road reported to Johnston County deputies last week that someone went to his residence and stole $500 in landscaping rocks from his yard.

Authorities said they do not think the two cases are connected and are having a hard time solving both cases.

In May, a 4,000-pound rock was removed from the property of Dr. Harold Underwood at the corner of Brightleaf Boulevard and North Street. The two-ton rock had sat beside the busy intersection for 38 years.