Officers: Residents should be wary of request
By News-Argus Staff
Published in News on June 28, 2006 1:51 PM
Several Wayne County residents have been approached by a white man who was carrying an infant and asking for gas, according to reports filed with the Wayne County Sheriff's Office.
They believe the requests are false and are asking the public to be wary.
A resident on Claridge Nursery Road told deputies that the man had knocked on his door on June 19. The resident, Kenneth Eugene Ham, walked to his shed to get high-test gas, but the man said he could not use it, the report said. The resident then said he would go to a nearby store and get regular gas. At that point, the man said he had a hole in his gas tank and left.
The resident said the man returned to his home two nights later and said he had brought a half-gallon of gas. When Ham said he did not need any gas, the man jerked the screen door open, but Ham slammed the interior door shut, and the man fled.
When Ham told the Sheriff's Office about the incident, Deputy C.T. Arnold investigated and interviewed a farm worker on Claridge Nursery Road. The worker said the man also had asked him if he had any gas. When he said he did not, the man left in a green Ford Escort and headed north on N.C. 581, the report said.
The man was described as being 5-feet-10 and 165 pounds with a medium build and spiked sandy colored hair.
Arnold then found the car with a man and a baby. The man, identified as Michael Clum of Vail Road, Pikeville, said he had run out of gas. He said he did not have a valid driver's license and left with two other men in the car.
Goldsboro police on Monday arrested Clum and charged him with driving while his license was revoked. He was released on a $500 unsecured bond.