More is being learned about the past criminal history of William Curtis Futrell, the 34-year-old Franklin, Va. man arrested Thursday in the 2006 murders of two elderly sisters.

Additionally, the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald has confirmed that Futrell once lived in the Lewiston area of Bertie County and attended Bertie High School.

Meanwhile, it appears that Futrell is no stranger to local law enforcement.

On January 11 of this year, Futrell was taken into custody after stealing a Northampton County Public Works truck in Jackson and driving it to Rich Square.

According to a Jan. 15 article published in the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, a Public Works employee parked his truck in the vehicle lot behind the Northampton County Courthouse at around 9 a.m. on Jan. 11.

Leaving the keys in the vehicle, the employee walked inside the courthouse to fix an electrical problem. Approximately five minutes later he came back outside to find the truck was missing.

A BOLO (be on the lookout) was put out by the Northampton County Sheriff’s dispatch for the vehicle.

Around 10:50 a.m. the truck was spotted in Rich Square by a Rich Square police officer on Main Street.

Northampton County Sheriff’s Deputy Antwone Johnson and Rich Square Officer William Outland were able to stop the vehicle driven by Futrell on Bryant Town Road in Rich Square.

Futrell was taken into custody and was turned over to Northampton County Sheriff’s Captain Daryl Harmon and was charged with larceny of a motor vehicle and possession of a stolen vehicle. Both are felony charges.

According to Northampton County court records, Futrell was found guilty on April 28 for felony larceny of a motor vehicle. He was sentenced to 8-10 months in prison, but that verdict was suspended in lieu of 18 months of supervised probation.

The court records show that Futrell listed Dorchester Square Apartments in Franklin, Va. as his address at the time of his arrest in Northampton County.

Futrell also has a Bertie County connection. Sources there told the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald that Futrell once lived on the Moore Road in the Lewiston-Woodville area and possibly resided at one time on Bell Street in Aulander.

He attended Bertie High School where a 1990 yearbook listed him as a freshman. However, it is not known if he graduated.

Other than the felony larceny of a motor vehicle conviction earlier this year in Northampton County, Futrell’s previous arrests on criminal charges in North Carolina were minor.

According to online records provided by the North Carolina Department of Corrections, Futrell was convicted and given a suspended sentence on May 5, 2000 for speeding and driving while license revoked in Hertford County. A little over one year later (7-30-01), he was given a suspended sentence following a conviction of writing a worthless check in Martin County. All of those crimes are misdemeanors.

Futrell also has a criminal history across the state line. According to Southampton County, Va. court records, Futrell was arrested on Sept. 12, 2007 and charged with misdemeanor assault after an incident in Franklin on Aug. 27. He entered a not guilty plea, was tried and found not guilty on Nov. 30.

Futrell was also arrested on June 14, 2006 and charged with felony grand larceny. The charge stems from a June 9 incident in Franklin. Futrell pleaded no contest at his Oct. 16 hearing and received a 90-day suspended sentence.

The murders took place 51 days after Futrell’s arrest for the grand larceny charge.

(Charlie Passut, Staff Writer with the Tidewater News (Franklin, Va.), a sister publication of the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald, contributed to this story.)