Sampson driver jailed under $1.2M bond

A Sampson County man, who has been racking up driving offenses for over a decade, has landed back in jail under a $1.2 million bond after being taken into custody just before Christmas on another round of traffic violations.

Steven Thomas Nickles, 33, of 9710 High House Road, Salemburg, has been booked — and released — on a multitude of what law enforcement officers have called habitually committed driving offense that date back more than 10 years.

According to Sampson County Sheriff Jimmy Thornton, Nickles has been charged 134 times since 2010, with 24 motor vehicle offenses that occurred in Sampson County just this year.

The worst of those incidents happened in early December 2024, nearly claiming the life of Nickles and three others. The incident occurred on Dec. 6, approximately 4:30 p.m., when Nickles wrecked his Ford Mustang GT doing “burnouts” in Dunn. North Carolina Highway Patrol reports from that incident show he was speeding upwards of 80 mph at that time, eventually lost control, crossing the center line and crashing into an oncoming vehicle operated by a mother with her two children. There were no deaths from the accident.

Nickles was released from the hospital just days before his latest arrest, on Dec. 20, by Highway Patrol troopers after reports came in about a reckless driver in Sampson who, again, turned out to be Nickles.

At approximately 6:16 p.m. on Dec. 20, Nickles was arrested on a laundry list of charges, including: three counts reckless driving wanton disregard, three counts driving while license revoked-not impaired revoked, flee/elude arrest with motor vehicle, exceeding posted speed, three counts assault with deadly weapon serious injury, window tinting violation, driving left of center and failure to wear seat belt-driver.

As for the cause of Nickles’ apparent nonstop endangerment while driving, Highway Patrol Sgt. Kevin Pearson believes it’s nothing more than disregard for the law.

“He’s had multiple failure to appears, and he was arrested and locked up on a previously case for 45 days,” the trooper explained. “He got out of jail, then went on and got into another wreck after that, so he’s just been blatantly disregarding the law.

“The wreck was from his collision where he had to be flown to WakeMed where he was in critical condition,” Pearson explained. “The minute he got to leave the hospital, the next day, he was out and about doing that same stuff with the cars.”

A charge of possession drug paraphernalia charge was added to those offenses on Dec. 21, at 6 p.m., from the Sampson Sheriff’s Department, which, according to Sheriff’s Office incident reports, found Nickles with a ‘jar containing marijuana residue’ at the Sampson County Magistrate’s Office.

Nickles was also served for outstanding warrants and was put behind bars. It was during that time Pearson said the hammer came down on the suspect and his repeated incidents.

”They got him on some outstanding warrants, and they locked him up on that Thursday or Friday,” he said. “After 48 hours, because he had no bond, the magistrate has the authority to request a bond hearing, so the magistrate did.

“It’s my understanding that Judge (Robert) Gilmore, and he had the district attorney on the call, (Robert) Thigpen, and I think the other AD Jennifer Barnes, there as well, and they came to an agreement to give him a $1.2 million bond.”

Pearson said he was unsure when Nickles’ court date was, but that he was currently still jailed.

“I think he had some outstanding warrants in Duplin County also, so he’s answering for those charges they had on him when he was in their jail,” Pearson said. “So right now, and I don’t know what his court date is, but he’s still in jail waiting on the courts.

“Plus he had new stuff that the Sheriff’s Department got him on, which I think was speeding to elude arrest charges,” he added. “So combined with the new charges and all the old stuff, the magistrate thought it best they give him a $1.2 million bond.”

Nickles total bond was set at $1,258,500.