HAMLET — Police have charged a Rockingham man in connection with the theft of a camper earlier this month.
According to investigators with the Hamlet Police Department, a 2016 Pioneer camper was stolen from a storage facility in the Battley Dairy Road area on June 10.
The department posted photos of the camper to Facebook on June 18, asking for the public’s help in finding it.
Investigators say that camper was found June 23 in Rockingham at the Blewett Avenue home of 36-year-old James Dwight Russell III.
Russell was arrested that day and charged with one felony count of possession of stolen goods or property. However, his $1,000 secured bond was posted the following day, court records show. He is scheduled to appear in court July 10.
Investigators say the case remains open as they try to determine who is responsible for the theft.
Online court records show Russell, who also has an address listed in Ellerbe, was allegedly caught by Hamlet police last month with an unspecified quantity of methamphetamine and a glass pipe, leading to charges of possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia.
He is also listed as the victim in an assault and property damage case from April.
Russell also has multiple pending traffic cases in Richmond and Scotland counties, including several citations for driving with a revoked license.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Russell was first convicted of misdemeanor larceny in 2011.
In 2017, Russell was convicted in Stanly County of assault with a deadly weapon.
He was also convicted in 2021 of felony breaking and entering and possessing stolen goods. His probation in that case was revoked the following year and Russell was incarcerated for three months.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
