HAMLET — Police have charged a man they say illegally reconnected his power.
An arrest warrant alleges that 46-year-old Joseph Neil Whittle, of Hamlet, diverted power from Duke Energy on Feb. 3 by bypassing the electric meter and “reconnecting service without authorization.”
The warrant was issued to the Hamlet Police Department on Feb. 6, charging Whittle with one misdemeanor count of reconnecting a utility and one felony count of habitual larceny.
Whittle was arrested Feb. 8 and booked into the Richmond County Jail on a $15,000 secured bond, He is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 19.
Court records show Whittle filed an affidavit of indigency and was appointed a lawyer on Feb. 9.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Whittle is currently serving an 18-month suspended sentence following a November 2025 conviction of injury to property to obtain nonferrous metals and possessing stolen goods.
Whittle also has the following prior convictions:
2018 - delivering or selling a Schedule II controlled substance, possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance, maintaining any place for a controlled substance
2019 - possession with intent to sell a Schedule II controlled substance
2022 - misdemeanor larceny
2023 - possession of drug paraphernalia
Online court records show additional convictions of shoplifting in 2011, as well as misdemeanor larceny in 2023 and 2026, the latter being in Moore County.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
