A 28-year-old Greenville man is sitting in the Pitt County Detention Center without bond after police say he stole about $6,000 worth of property from a Dragon City arcade employee and bit the worker on the shoulder during the theft. Darius Malik Mayo now faces charges of common law robbery and simple assault following his arrest by Greenville police.
According to court records cited by WCTI, Mayo took the property from the employee at Dragon City, a commercial gaming arcade on South Memorial Drive, and bit the victim's shoulder during the encounter. That bite is what pushed the case from a simple theft into a felony. Greenville police arrested Mayo and booked him into the Pitt County Detention Center on Tuesday.
How a Bite Turned Theft Into a Felony
Under North Carolina law, common law robbery is a Class G felony that involves taking personal property from another person through violence or the threat of force, without a dangerous weapon, according to Justia Law. It differs from armed robbery, which requires a weapon and carries a harsher Class D felony designation. Legal experts note that an act of theft escalates from ordinary larceny to common law robbery whenever physical force — including biting or striking a victim — is used during the taking of property, per Plumides, Romano & Johnson PC. That distinction appears central to why Mayo now faces a felony rather than a misdemeanor larceny charge.
The simple assault charge against him carries its own, separate consequences. Under state law, simple assault is a Class 2 misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, per the Powers Law Firm's summary of North Carolina statute. North Carolina courts still rely on common law definitions of assault and battery when prosecuting these cases.
No Bond Reflects Pretrial Safety Review
Mayo is currently held without bond at the Pitt County Detention Center, a facility operated under Sheriff Paula S. Dance, who made history in 2018 as North Carolina's first African American female sheriff, according to background from East Carolina University. Under North Carolina General Statute § 15A-534 and recent updates under Iryna's Law, judicial officials must weigh factors like criminal history and public safety risk before setting bond in serious felony cases, according to Ryan Willis Law PLLC. That framework helps explain why Mayo's case may require formal judicial review before any bond is set.
Mayo's name has surfaced in Greenville law enforcement records before. In December 2019, WITN-TV reported that he was named in a Greenville arrest warrant alongside co-defendant Ty'kell Kornegay in connection with an earlier assault and robbery incident. It is not clear from available records how that 2019 case was ultimately resolved.
Case Lands Amid Falling Local Crime Numbers
The arrest comes as Greenville police report broad declines in local crime. A February statistical review from the Greenville Police Department found that overall crime in the city fell 12% in 2025 compared to the year before, with property crime dropping 13% citywide; officers also recovered more than 800 firearms during that stretch. The department, headquartered at 500 South Greene Street, employs roughly 232 law enforcement personnel serving a city of more than 85,000 residents, per FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by AreaVibes.
Mayo's case will move through North Carolina Judicial District 3, which handles all district and superior court criminal matters in Pitt County at the Pitt County Courthouse in Greenville, as Hoodline has detailed in a prior case. No court appearance date has been reported publicly. It remains unknown how the earlier 2019 warrant involving Mayo was handled or whether it will factor into upcoming bond review proceedings.
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