By Shavonne Walker

shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Rowan County authorities received calls from several businesses Monday morning about a nude man who was seen walking down West Innes Street and stealing flowers from a cemetery.

When a Rowan County sheriff’s deputy caught up with the man near Memorial Park Cemetery, the deputy noted the man was clothed but was wearing sagging pants that exposed his buttocks.

The man, later identified as Harvey Lee Gillespie, 67, was carrying three flower arrangements.

When the deputy asked Gillespie where he got the flowers, he said, “the graveyard down the street,” a report said.

Gillespie was charged with misdemeanor larceny and issued a $500 secured bond. He remains in the Rowan County Detention Center.

Authorities say Gillespie has an extensive criminal record that includes communicating threats, assault on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer, possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a concealed weapon, breaking and entering a vehicle, larceny of a motor vehicle, driving while impaired, and drug possession.

He is currently on 18 months of probation for a Jan. 14 assault on an officer, communicating threats and resisting arrest.

Contact reporter Shavonne Walker at 704-797-4253.