ROCKINGHAM — An alleged domestic dispute led to a standoff with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office late Wednesday.
Deputies were dispatched around 10:30 p.m. to a home on Richmond Road after a woman called saying her husband wouldn’t let her leave and was threatening to harm her and himself, according to a press release issued Thursday morning.
Investigators say the first deputy on scene was met by the alleged victim, who reportedly said she had escaped through the garage.
According to the press release, the woman told deputies that her husband, 62-year-old Joe Dickie Russell had been drinking and wouldn’t let her leave the house and cut the power to keep her from getting her car out of the garage.
When she told him she was calling law enforcement, Russell reportedly turned the power back on and she was able to get out.
Deputies called Russell, who said he was not coming out “and if anyone came to his door it would not end well for them,” the release states.
The RCSO Special Response Team arrived and reportedly continued the conversation with Russell, who eventually complied and walked out about 90 minutes later.
Russell was arrested and charged with second-degree kidnapping, communicating threats, resisting a public officer, and another charge of communicating threats “in relation to the law enforcement officers.”
Richmond County Jail records show Russell was booked at 3:10 a.m. Thursday.
Because of it being a domestic case, Russell was initially held without bond. However, jail records show Russell has a $100,000 secured bond and he is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 22.
Russell was also arrested on an outstanding order for failure to appear in court on a misdemeanor charge of injury to real property. He has an additional $500 secured bond and court date of Sept. 9 in that case.
Records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction show Russell has a history of assault dating back more than 30 years.
In 1986, Russell was convicted on misdemeanor charges of assault on a female, assault by pointing a gun, breaking and entering, damage to property and communicating threats, and given a suspended sentence.
Russell was convicted in 1991 on three counts of assault on a female and one count of assault with a deadly weapon. His probation was revoked for all but one of the assault on a female convictions, and he served 13 months of a two-year sentence.
His record remained clean for a decade, but Russell was convicted in 2004 of assault on a female and assault.
Russell’s record was clear for another 16 years, until receiving a suspended sentence in 2020 when he was convicted of carrying a concealed gun and assault on an officer or state employee.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
