ROCKINGHAM — A man wanted on sex offense charges in Richmond County was recently apprehended in another.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, 54-year-old Richard Levon Bennett, of Hamlet, was arrested Monday, July 29 by the Union County Sheriff’s Office.
Bennett was wanted on charges of first-degree forcible sex offense and taking indecent liberties with a minor stemming from an investigation of sexual abuse allegations from June 24, according to a press release issued July 31.
Bennett is being held without bond in the Union County Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 12.
Records show Bennett is a registered sex offender, having been convicted in 2009 of taking indecent liberties with a child in Scotland County. According to the N.C. Sex Offender Registry, Bennett was 37 years old and the victim was 13.
Online court records show Bennett has a pending charge of babysitting by or in the home of a sex offender from earlier this year. His next court date for that case is Oct. 3.
Bennett was convicted of failing to register as a sex offender in 2021.
While the sheriff’s office indicated in the press release that Bennett is from Hamlet, the Registry shows his address being on Second Street in Ellerbe. His address was last verified May 13.
Court records show Bennett has several pending traffic citations in Richmond and Moore counties.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Bennett was convicted on two counts of an employment security violation in 1995 and 12 counts in 2002.
In 2005, Bennett was convicted of secreting property to hinder the enforcement of a lien. He also has two convictions in 2000 for driving while license revoked in Moore and Hoke counties.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
