Authorities say a Salisbury man took a utility meter from a vacant house across the street from his North Main Street home.
Salisbury Police charged Orlando Clement Black, 52, with misdemeanor interfering with electric gas or water meters.
The incident occurred Friday, and Black was charged Sunday morning. He remains in the county detention center under $400 bond.
A witness saw Black remove the meter box panel and notified law enforcement. Black was convicted in 2012 of larceny, injury to personal property, assault with a deadly weapon and drug possession from a 2009 conviction.