“He accused me of stealing, and that’s what upset me.” –Richard Maynard

BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — An Inez man was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot “the next person who came out from the water department.”

Martin County Sheriff’s Deputy Braxton McGinnis arrested Richard Michael Maynard, 45, at his Main Street home May 11 on a warrant obtained by Alliance Water Resources manager Jonathan Ridings. The warrant charges Maynard with terroristic threatening, third degree.

According to Ridings’ complaint, Maynard came into the Alliance Water billing office May 10 and made the threat.

Maynard told the Mountain Citizen Monday that he was backing out of his driveway and saw Alliance distribution manager Jason “JD” Damron in the ditch line.

“I asked what he was doing,” Maynard said. “He said, “I want to know where you’re stealing your water from.’”

Maynard says he advised Damron that he had a water well and was waiting for equipment from Evans Hardware to hook it up.

“He said, ‘Can I see your well?’ so I pulled back up the hill and showed him the well,” said Maynard. “I showed him there was no water hooked up anywhere to that camper.”

Maynard, who has diabetes, says his “sugar was low” at the time of the incident, and the confrontation was upsetting.

“He accused me of stealing, and that’s what upset me,” said Maynard.

Maynard went to the water billing office immediately after Damron left.

“I told them, ‘Most places, people will shoot at you when you trespass,’” he said. “I didn’t mean that I would shoot anybody. I don’t even have a gun.”

Maynard wants the issue resolved.

“I proved to him that I wasn’t stealing,” he said. “I apologized to the ladies in the office, and they are fine with it now.”

When contacted for comment, Ridings told the Mountain Citizen that he could not comment on “a pending investigation.”