Authorities arrested a Chapel Hill man Wednesday for allegedly taking a man into custody in Rowland two days after losing his bail bondsman license in a criminal plea agreement.

Barry Eugene Hicks, 53, formally lost his bail bonding license March 2 as part of a court agreement stemming from a May 2010 incident, in which he was charged and convicted of seven misdemeanors committed as he attempted to serve a warrant. On March 4, Hicks took a man he believed to be wanted – even though the man denied that person – into custody.

Upon arrival at Robeson County Court, the judge discovered Hicks had the wrong man, according to state Department of Insurance spokeswoman Marni Schribman. The judge released the man in custody and referred the situation to the Department of Insurance, which regulates bondsmen, for investigation.

Hicks was arrested Wednesday with the help of Orange County Sheriff’s deputies and charged with kidnapping, felonious restraint, obtaining property by false pretence and impersonating a bail bondsman.

His misdemeanor convictions from the 2010 incident included two counts of assault on a child, misdemeanor breaking an entering, simple assault, injury to real property, injury to personal property, and second degree trespassing. In Fayetteville Observer reports on the incident, Hicks admitted he did not announce his position as he kicked in the door and then pepper-sprayed a woman and children as a struggle ensued. The woman had allegedly skipped bond on drug charges.

Hicks was previously arrested in December 2008 attempting to drive a man he apprehended in Cleveland, Ohio, back to North Carolina, according to a police news release from Johnson City, Tennessee. Police responded to reports of a driver with a man wearing shackles in the back of his vehicle. The man had no pending warrants against him and Hicks had no valid bondsman credentials, the release said.

Hicks was released from Robeson County Jail on a $32,500 bond after Wednesday’s arrest.

Jahner: 919-829-4822