McPherson was in jail for his role in an assault on a woman and her three-legged dog.
A prisoner at the Columbus County detention Center has been charged with two counts of interfering with a jail sprinkler system.
Nathaniel Keith McPherson, 22, is alleged to have broken two sprinkler heads at the jail, on Aug. 5 and Aug. 24. The Whiteville fire department responded as a result of the vandalism.
McPherson is being held under a $500,000 bond. He still faces charges for a 2019 burglary where he assaulted a woman, robbed her, and hurt her three-legged dog. The woman’s husband defended her from the suspects with a fire extinguisher.
In that incident, McPherson and Tamagea Jaligah Shaunt Gilliam, 17, both of 5744 Andrew Jackson Hwy. South, allegedly broke into a home around 10 p.m.
The female victim went to investigate a noise, the report said, and was struck by McPherson. When she called for help, her husband came out of a bedroom — on a walker — and used a fire extinguisher to spray the two alleged burglars. They were arrested a short time later.
The two were charged with breaking and entering, assault, and cruelty to animals.