Naked Maysville man arrested on U.S. 70

KINSTON — A Maysville man bared it all for travelers driving along one of Kinston’s busiest expressways this weekend when he allegedly stripped naked under the belief a person had placed a “voodoo hex” on him.

Lenoir County Deputy Johnathan Whitley found 25-year-old Lawrence Ray Arnold, of 114 Corena Ave., Saturday around 7 a.m. streaking along U.S. 70 about a half-mile from Mallard Food Shop, where Arnold reportedly began his nude romp after getting into an argument with a female friend who was driving the car in which Arnold was a passenger.

Whitley retrieved a traffic safety vest from his vehicle to cover Arnold and put Arnold in his patrol car to prevent a traffic hazard. As an irate Arnold yelled he “had done nothing wrong,” Whitley charged him with misdemeanor indecent exposure.

“He began to tell me that ‘a girl had placed a voodoo hex on him’ and that he was ‘burning,’ ” Whitley said in his report. “I could smell and feel the effects of (pepper spray) coming from him.”

Eyewitnesses Rick Riley and Walter Dozier, clerks at Falling Creek Produce, said an unknown man Maced the naked Arnold when he tried to push the woman out of a Honda Civic in a turn lane near the produce stand and drive away. Falling Creek Produce is in the Mallard Food Shop parking lot about three miles west of Kinston on U.S. 70.

“I was changing my shoes for work and just as I had put one shoe on and turned around and looked up and he was already naked,” Riley said. “That is when I said, ‘It is time to go do something about this.’ ”

Riley said he put his other shoe on and told Arnold he needed to get off the road and that he was calling the police.

When Arnold heard Riley would call the police, Riley said the man patted his chest and said “I am the law.”

“That’s something you don’t see on a Saturday morning at 7 o’clock,” Riley said. “You might see that Saturday night in downtown Greenville or something like that, but not on U.S. 70 at 7 o’clock in the morning.”

After this, Riley said his wife, Donna, crossed the highway to get a baby riding in the car and poured some water on the baby’s face in case spray had fallen in the infant’s eyes.

The victim, who was not identified by the sheriff’s office, drove the four-door sedan into the gas station’s parking lot and told the deputy claiming Arnold’s clothing that he had been smoking angel dust and was having a “bad trip.” 

The woman, who told authorities she was driving Arnold to Maysville from Connecticut to attend his brother’s wedding, said Arnold stripped and, when she tried to stop at Mallard Food Shop to get him milk, began chasing her, attempting to get the keys.

Whitley helped Arnold get his jean shorts on and poured a bottle of water on his face to help reduce the effects of the pepper spray. 

While en route to the Lenoir County Magistrate’s Office, Whitley said Arnold continued to complain of burning.

The deputy placed Arnold in the Lenoir County jail with bail set at $35,000. 

Arnold also received charges of misdemeanor probation violation for three outstanding arrest warrants in Onslow County and one for aggravated assault on an officer in Connecticut.

Whitley said the LCSO informed Connecticut of Arnold’s arrest. 

Wesley Brown can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wbrown@freedomenc.com.