A 54-year-old Jacksonville man is being held without bond after an alleged confrontation with police and emergency medical personnel inside Onslow Memorial Hospital left him facing a stack of felony and misdemeanor charges. Billy Joe Riggs is accused of exposing himself to officers, throwing bodily fluid at one of them, and kicking another in the arm during the incident.
According to charging documents cited by WCTI, Riggs is charged with felony malicious conduct by a prisoner involving exposure and felony malicious conduct by a prisoner involving bodily fluid, along with two counts of assault on a government official or employee, communicating threats, and disorderly conduct. The documents allege Riggs exposed himself to officers while in custody and threw bodily fluid at one of them, while also accusing him of threatening to physically injure another person and kicking an officer in the arm.
Charging documents also describe Riggs as acting aggressively toward an emergency medical services employee and using abusive language that caused a public disturbance at the hospital, per the same account. Riggs was booked into the Onslow County Detention Center on August 15, according to RecentlyBooked.com, and he remains in custody at the Onslow County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday.
What the Felony Charges Could Mean
The two malicious-conduct charges stem from North Carolina General Statute § 14-258.4, which makes it a Class F felony for someone in custody to knowingly throw bodily fluids at a government employee, and a Class I felony to expose genitalia to an employee performing official duties, according to FindLaw. Under the state's structured sentencing guidelines, a Class F felony carries a maximum presumptive active prison term of up to 39 months, while a Class I felony can bring up to 24 months for repeat offenders, per Gilles Law PLLC. That statute also mandates that any sentence imposed run consecutively to whatever time a defendant is already serving.
The assault counts fall under a separate law. North Carolina General Statute § 14-33(c)(4) makes assaulting a government employee who is discharging official duties a Class A1 misdemeanor, the highest misdemeanor level in the state, punishable by up to 150 days in jail, according to the Beaver Courie Law Firm. Separately, state law under North Carolina General Statute § 14-34.6 elevates physical-injury assaults against EMTs or hospital staff to a Class I felony, a distinction lawmakers built into the code specifically to deter violence against emergency workers, according to Justia Law.
A Hospital in the Middle of Transition
The alleged incident unfolded at Onslow Memorial Hospital, a 162-bed acute care facility at 317 Western Boulevard in Jacksonville that employs more than 1,100 people and serves as Onslow County's main medical center, according to BioSpace. In June, the hospital announced a four-year integration plan under which UNC Health, based in Chapel Hill, will take full control of the facility as part of a planned $150 million investment, according to WITN-TV.
The case also lands amid broader concern over violence against health care workers statewide. An October 2025 survey by the North Carolina Nurses Association found that roughly 80 percent of surveyed nurses in the state reported experiencing workplace violence on the job, a trend that has pushed health systems to seek stronger workplace safety protections.
Held Without Bond at County Jail
Riggs is being held without bond at the Onslow County Detention Center, located at 717 Court Street in Jacksonville. The facility has a rated capacity of 528 inmates and a daily average population of about 365, according to the North Carolina Jail Administrators' Association, and it is managed by the Onslow County Sheriff's Office. Last month, the Sheriff's Office issued a public alert warning residents about phone scams in which callers impersonated detention staff to solicit fake bail payments, according to Onslow County Government.
