County jail riot case continued

ROCKINGHAM — The court case for Stephon Jewelton Easterling, 25, of Buttercup Drive in Hamlet, was continued until Oct. 25 on Thursday morning.

Easterling is facing two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge stemming from a prison riot that occurred at the Richmond County Jail on May 24. He is charged with one felony count malicious conduct by prisoner/throw, one felony count inciting to riot and one misdemeanor count assault of a government official or employee.

He is being held in custody at Richmond County Jail under a $25,000 secured bond for the additional charges. His total bond is now $100,000.

Adrian Jerrod Caldwell, 31, of Concord; Cedric Antonio Bell, 33, of Crestway Drive; and John Thomas Grant, 33, of Rockingham are also implicated the prison riot.

Caldwell is charged with one felony count malicious conduct by prisoner/throw and one misdemeanor count assault of a government official/employee. He is being held at Richmond County Jail under a $25,000 secured bond. His next court date is Aug. 3.

Bell and Grant are each charged with one felony count inciting to riot and one felony count of possession of a weapon by a prisoner. They are each being held at Richmond County Jail under a $75,000 secured bond. Bell is scheduled to appear in court on July 13 and 16. Grant’s next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 3.

A sheriff’s deputy responded to a call from the jail staff asking for help locking down F-Block at the jail, according to the Sheriff’s Office incident report. A jail officer told the deputy that a group of inmates were suiting up for a fight.

Five inmates were seen on the jail’s camera system with shirts and towels wrapped around their heads and faces, and were placing bed mats in front of the entry door to the cell block, the report said. Several inmates had gone to the toilet and were dipping cups in the toilet and were stacking them next to the entrance door and cell bars next to the catwalk, according to the report.

Also, two inmates were seen waiting in the shower waiting to ambush deputies if they entered the cell block. The initial deputy also noticed the inmates put a blanket and wet toilet paper over the cameras to block them, according to the report.

After Jail Administrator Captain Brian Mabe spoke to the inmates, off-duty deputies and the Special Response Team were told to report to the jail to manage the situation, the incident report shows.

After Mabe made one more verbal warning to the inmates to surrender, the SRT entered the block and the inmates were secured and restrained on the ground, according to the report. Bell, Caldwell and Easterling were all searched before being transferred to A-Block. One unidentified inmate was taken to the hospital for medical evaluation, but refused treatment.

The incident report indicates that a heavy duty spring that had been folded open into a point, two lighters, cigarette butts, a razor blade, a sock with three hard round objects tied into it and some toilet paper with multiple pills wrapped up in it, two shanks, a screwdriver and blue gloves were found on the inmates, confiscated and turned over to Sheriff’s Office Detective Dustin McQueen.

Court documents say the group allegedly engaged in a riot inside the jail premises, resulting in the serious bodily injury to another. Bell and Grant each possessed a weapon during the riot, court documents indicate.

Caldwell allegedly threw urine at and pushed and struck members of the SRT and Sheriff’s Office deputies while they were attempting to gain control of the riot, according to court documents.