HOFFMAN — A Richmond County felon who gave his probation officers the slip was caught when Moore County deputies arrested him on an impaired driving charge.

Percy Jermaine Purcell, 34, of 112 Perkins St. in Hoffman, was stopped for driving erratically Thursday afternoon. Deputies learned the N.C. Department of Public Safety listed him as an absconder from probation.

Purcell was charged with driving while impaired, reckless driving with wanton disregard and two felony probation violations.

Purcell served seven months of a maximum 1 year, 7-month sentence on felony breaking and entering and felony speeding to elude arrest convictions in Moore County before being paroled in April 2013.

He was also serving probation on July 2012 convictions of assault with a deadly weapon, assault on emergency personnel and habitual misdemeanor assault in Hoke County.

Purcell’s criminal record dates back to 1998 and includes convictions of simple assault or affray, possession of stolen goods, causing wanton injury to personal property, aiding and abetting assault inflicting serious injury, aiding and abetting felony breaking and entering and common-law robbery, assault on a female, misdemeanor larceny and receiving stolen goods.

State prison system records list more than a dozen aliases for Purcell, including P-Dub, Pac-Man and Pac-Man X. He has also used the name Perry Purcell.

Purcell was booked into the Moore County Detention Center in Carthage under a $15,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 10.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

Richmond County currently has 29 absconders from probation and parole, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s Division of Adult Corrections. Anyone with information on an absconder’s current whereabouts is asked to call the division toll-free at 1-888-646-0024.

Reach Editor Corey Friedman at 910-817-2670 and follow him on Twitter @corey_friedman.

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By Corey Friedman

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