ROCKINGHAM — A man with outstanding warrants from Scotland County was reportedly caught with heroin over the weekend.
A deputy was patrolling the East Rockingham area on Saturday when he pulled over a vehicle for not having any taillights, according to a press release issued Monday by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
After running the driver’s information, the deputy reportedly discovered that 35-year-old Charles Joseph Strickland, of Rockingham, did not have a license and was wanted on several charges in neighboring Scotland County.
According to the release, Strickland was arrested on the outstanding charges and consented to a search of his vehicle. During that search, the deputy reportedly found a plastic box with suspected heroin and marijuana, along with a set of scales.
The sheriff’s office charged Strickland with possession of heroin, simple possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. The Scotland County charges are attempted larceny, injury to real property and misdemeanor conspiracy.
Strickland was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $5,000 secured bond for the drug charges. The jail website does not list the bond amount for the Scotland County charges, but his court date is April 19.
Online court records show Strickland was scheduled to appear in court Monday on multiple charges from 2020 and 2021: eight counts of larceny of motor vehicle parts; six counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle; one count each of being a habitual felon, obtaining property by false pretenses, identity theft, possession of cocaine, simple possession of a Schedule VI controlled substance and attempted larceny.
Strickland also has court appearances for driving with a revoked license on April 12 and 21 from the N.C. State Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s office, respectively.
Strickland was first convicted in 2003 of possessing stolen goods, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction. The following year, he was convicted of felony breaking and entering and injury to real property.
His probation on the first conviction was revoked in 2005, landing him behind bars for six weeks. In 2007, his probation on the latter charges was revoked, resulting in a seven-month incarceration.
Strickland was convicted in May 2019 of misdemeanor larceny and his probation was revoked that November, leading to another six-week stay. Less than a month after being released, he was convicted of obtaining property by false pretenses in early 2010, and again was incarcerated for seven months following a probation revocation.
He served 17 months following a 2013 conviction of felony breaking and entering and habitual breaking and entering, records show.
Strickland was hit with post-release revocation in January 2015 — two months before his parole was set to end — and convicted in February of obtaining property by false pretenses.
He was released in November of 2015 and was back in prison by June 2016, serving eight months on another post-release revocation.
A month prior to his release, Strickland was convicted of delivering or selling a Schedule II controlled substance, stemming from a 2016 case. His probation on that charge was revoked in 2018, landing him behind bars for another eight months. Twenty days after his release, Strickland was again subject to a post-release revocation, spending the next seven months locked up and was released Feb. 19, 2020.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
