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SPRING HOPE — Sheriff’s deputies say a felon convicted of voluntary manslaughter in a 2015 homicide was caught with a loaded handgun during a Feb. 18 traffic stop just outside Spring Hope’s town limits.
Deputies pulled over a car for a registration violation on N.C. 581 near U.S. 64 and learned the driver, 30-year-old Dexter Devon Taylor Jr. of Littleton, had an outstanding arrest warrant on a parole violation charge, according to Maj. Eddie Moore of the Nash County Sheriff’s Office.
After Taylor was arrested on the warrant, deputies asked 29-year-old passenger Khiry Deshawn Dickens of Enfield to step out of the car. Moore said Dickens dropped a small baggie of marijuana on the ground. Deputies searched the vehicle and allegedly found a loaded handgun under the passenger seat where Dickens had been sitting.
The sheriff’s office reviewed criminal records and determined Taylor and Dickens were both convicted felons prohibited from owning or possessing firearms.
Taylor was convicted of voluntary manslaughter after initially facing a Halifax County murder charge in 2015, and Dickens was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after authorities charged him with first-degree murder in 2012, also in Halifax County, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Gangs, guns and drugs are what drives the violent crime in our neighborhoods,” Moore said in a news release. “The Nash County Sheriff’s Office has worked diligently over the years to remove these types of offenders from our communities. We will continue to do our part to enforce the laws and arrest those who wreak havoc for our citizens.”
Dickens was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon and was released from the Nash County Detention Center after posting a $100,000 secured bond.
Taylor was initially jailed without bond on the probation violation warrant. Deputies say his probation was reinstated and he was released.
Moore credited the Spring Hope Police Department with providing assistance during the traffic stop.
