Jacksonville man charged with assault after incident at his home

Onslow County Sheriff's detectives say a Jacksonville man severely beat another man visiting his house, leaving him in a puddle of blood in his garage while he went shopping at Wal-Mart.

Roger Harold Jones, 38, of Grants Creek Road, was charged Friday by the Onslow County Sheriff's Department with assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill inflicting serious injury. His bond was set at $10,000.

The investigation began a week ago with a 911 call the afternoon of Nov. 8 reporting that a man was lying in a pool of blood in the garage at 740 Grants Creek Road.

Jones and two other witnesses living in the house told responding deputies they found the Jerry Weatherington, 51, lying on the garage floor, according to a press release from the Sheriff's Department.

Weatherington was transported to Onslow Memorial Hospital. He had a large cut on his head, bruises on his back, and both his hands were broken, according to medical reports.

All three witnesses at 720 Grants Creek Road were drinking heavily, according to the original incident report. Jones and other witnesses told investigators Weatherington was assaulted by "Mexicans" prior to being dropped off at their residence. Jones reportedly said he found Weatherington in his garage when he returned from Wal-Mart, authorities said.

Sheriff's Sgt. David South investigated the incident. Sheriff's Capt. Rick Sutherland and Lt. Pat Garvey executed a search warrant for 720 Grants Creek Road late Thursday.

"Two weapons believed to have been used in the assault were discovered during the search and also other evidence which clearly indicated the assault occurred at 720 Grants Creek Road," Sheriff Ed Brown said in a release Friday.

Following the discovery of the weapons, Jones was arrested and charged with assaulting Weatherington.

Jones was previously convicted of assault with a deadly weapon with the intent to kill inflicting serious injury and robbery with a dangerous weapon in the 1994 face-slashing robbery of a Jacksonville cab driver, according to the N.C. Department of Correction and Daily News archives.

He has also been convicted of communicating threats, larceny, injury to real property and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to the DOC.

Contact crime reporter Lindell Kay at 910-219-8456. Read Lindell's blog at http://onslowcrime.encblogs.com.