ROCKINGHAM — A man was tracked down by a bloodhound last week after allegedly trying to break into a home during a domestic incident.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call on Benji Road on Feb. 24 when 41-year-old Michael Charles Knight violated a domestic violence protection order and tried to break into a home.
Knight left the scene on foot before deputies arrived, but was found by a bloodhound K-9 and taken into custody, according to RCSO.
While he was being escorted into the jail, Knight allegedly pulled away from the deputies and ran, but was found a short time later.
Knight is charged with breaking and entering to terrorize or injure, domestic criminal trespassing, violating a domestic violence protective order, injury to personal property, escaping a local jail and resisting a public officer.
Investigators say he was originally held without bail, however, Richmond County Jail records show he is being held on a combined $25,000 secured bond.
Online court records show Knight has a pending domestic violence protective order violation charge from 2022. He is scheduled to appear in court on all charges March 13.
Knight is currently serving a 12-month suspended sentence after being convicted in December 2022 on two counts of violating a domestic violence protective order and misdemeanor breaking and entering, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
Knight was first convicted of credit card theft in 2006. Three months after the conviction, his probation was revoked and he spent most of the next five months behind bars.
A month into his sentence, Knight was convicted of felony larceny. His probation on that was revoked — and the charge upgraded to larceny of bank notes — in 2007 when he was convicted of misdemeanor larceny and driving with a revoked license, resulting in another five-month incarceration.
Knight was released from prison in September 2007, but convicted again in November on two counts of breaking and entering vehicles.
Other convictions include:
- 2012 – larceny of a motor vehicle
- 2013 – larceny over $1,000 (nearly six months served)
- 2015 – larceny after breaking and entering
- 2021 – attempted breaking and entering
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
