Crime blotter: Billy Pless charged after refusing to leave downtown business
Published 3:57 pm Tuesday, May 10, 2016
By Shavonne Walker
shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Salisbury Police say a Spencer man known for multiple run-ins with law enforcement since the 1980s was charged with trespassing after he refused to leave the front of a downtown Salisbury business.
Salisbury Police charged Billy Floyd Pless Jr., 63, Saturday with misdemeanor second-degree trespassing. He remains in the Rowan County Detention Center under a $1,500 secured bond.
Pless was playing the piano in front of Growing Pains Consignment Shop, 122 S. Main St., when he said something inappropriate to a customer going into the shop.
“He was asked to leave and refused,” said Police Capt. Shelia Lingle.
She said it appears Pless became very aggressive with store personnel. Police did arrive on the scene, but the employee was able to go to the Rowan County Magistrate’s Office for a private warrant.
Pless was released from prison in February following a nine-month stay for being a habitual felon. In June 2015, he was charged after failing to leave Hendrix Barbecue after the business was closed. Then authorities said he repeatedly dialed 911 so he could get a ride to his van that was at a repair shop.
In a January 2015, Pless was taken to court for communicating threats against Karen Hinson.
Pless was found guilty and received a suspended sentence in that case, but after court, he slammed into Hinson with his motorized wheelchair. He knocked Hinson against a wall and bruised her leg.
Pless has 30 convictions that include assault on a female, communicating threats, domestic criminal trespass, assault with a deadly weapon, hit and run, harassing phone calls, and disorderly conduct.
In other Salisbury Police reports:
• First Legacy Community Credit reported Friday an incident of fraud at the bank, 2146 Statesville Blvd.
• A woman reported Friday of an incident of fraud at Rite Aid, 1605 E. Innes St.
• T.K. Auto Sales reported Friday someone took a tow hook from a vehicle parked in a used car lot, 1628 Stokes Ferry Road.
• KR Miller Inc. reported Friday the business was a victim of vandalism at 100 W. Lafayette St.
• A man reported Friday his truck window was shattered by a metal socket in the 200 block of Faith Road.
• A man reported Friday someone took items from his vehicle in the 1400 block of Park Avenue.
• A man reported Saturday his vehicle was broken into in the 600 block of Lakewood Drive.
• A woman reported Saturday she was the victim of vandalism in the 1600 block of West Innes Street.
• Verizon Wireless reported Saturday someone took four cell phones from the business, 215 Bendix Drive.
• A woman reported Saturday someone took her lawn mower and grill from her property in the 700 block of Ryan Street.
• A man reported Saturday someone tried to break into his property in the 800 block of Park Avenue.
• An assault was reported Saturday in the 800 block of North Craige Street.
• Brian Saul Gross, 39, was charged with misdemeanor failure to register as a sex offender from the 1500 block of South Main Street.
In Rowan Sheriff’s reports:
• A woman reported Thursday items were stolen from her home in the 8200 block of Wright Road, Kannapolis.
• Rent-A-Center reported Thursday someone took items and pawned them from the store at Rowan Gun and Pawn.
• A woman reported Thursday she was the victim of a physical assault in the 6600 block of Roberts Drive, Kannapolis.
• Quinton Devontie Richardson, 23, was charged Thursday with felony breaking into motor vehicles while at the Rowan County Detention Center.
• Jamaria Shared Crawford, 16, was charged Thursday with misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon while at the Rowan County Courthouse.
• Laquan Shaheed Davis, 21, was charged Thursday with felony larceny while at the Rowan County Magistrate’s Office.
Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.
