ROCKINGHAM — A parolee released from prison less than six months ago is back in jail on drug charges.
Stephon Jewlton Easterling, 30, of Hamlet, is accused of selling 0.5 grams of a “crystalline substance” suspected to be methamphetamine and an unspecified quantity of fentanyl to a confidential informant handled by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office on March 13.
RCSO investigators on May 1 obtained a warrant for Easterling’s arrest, charging him with: selling methamphetamine; delivering methamphetamine; possession of methamphetamine; selling a Schedule II controlled substance; delivering a Schedule II controlled substance; and possession of a Schedule II controlled substance.
Easterling was arrested the same day and booked into the Richmond County Jail on a $25,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in court May 15.
Records with the N.C. Department of Adult Correction show Easterling was released from prison on Dec. 11, 2024 and his parole is set to end Dec. 11, 2025.
Easterling was serving time for a 2022 conviction — on charges of being a habitual felon, fleeing to elude arrest, possession of a Schedule II controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia — when he was convicted the following year in Anson County of escaping prison.
Records show Easterling has a history of various crimes dating back more than a decade:
2012 - breaking and entering, larceny (both misdemeanors)
2016 - breaking and entering, larceny, larceny after breaking and entering, obtaining property by false pretenses, possession of a controlled substance, assault inflicting serious injury
2018 - breaking and entering vehicles
2019 - larceny from the person
2020 -misdemeanor larceny, larceny from the person
All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
