ROCKINGHAM — Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office have charged a man for allegedly causing woes for both public and private utilities.
According to warrants, 47-year-old Steve Randall Butler Jr., of Rockingham, twice defrauded the Richmond County Water Department by reconnecting water service after it had been shut off. The incidents allegedly happened April 8 and 22.
Butler is also accused of stealing a transformer owned by Pee Dee Electric (worth $3,500) on March 7.
Records show Butler is charged with two counts each of misdemeanor larceny and reconnecting a utility. Butler was arrested April 22 and is being held in the Richmond County Jail on a $2,500 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in court May 1.
Online court records show Butler was arrested April 2 on charges of felony larceny and injury to property to obtain nonferrous metals for allegedly stealing a transformer (valued at $3,500) owned by Pee Dee Electric on March 7. He was released on a $1,500 unsecured bond.
Butler also has multiple pending traffic citations from 2024, court records show.
According to the N.C. Department of Adult Correction, Butler was first convicted in 2010 on charges of simple assault and damage to property.
Butler’s probation was revoked the following year when he was convicted of attempted larceny over $1,0000 and he was incarcerated for less than four months.
In 2022, Butler was convicted in Anson County of habitual breaking and entering. Records appear to show that charge was changed to felony breaking and entering and he was imprisoned for just more than a month.
However, he was back behind bars just a few months later to serve more than five months on a post-release revocation.
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
