A New Bern man charged Thursday with stealing a sound board from the Roanoke Rapids Theatre was a contract employee for a company which has a verbal agreement with the venue.

Roanoke Rapids Police Chief Jeff Hinton said today Jason Louis Lis, 29, worked for Benson Pro Audio.

Pete Benson, owner of the company, told rrspin.com in a phone interview today his company has had a verbal agreement with the theater since last Easter to provide technicians and extra equipment to the venue when needed.

Lis was not a salaried employee, Benson said, but a contract laborer. “That worked out well for a long time.”

Benson learned about the missing equipment from theater Manager Charles Davis, who told him Lis had been at the theater and the monitor was gone. Police were notified March 4 the equipment was missing. “There was no reason for him to be there.”

Lis told Benson he had nothing to do with it, that he went to Roanoke Rapids to look at a car he saw advertised on Craig’s List.

Soon, however, Benson began getting different stories on what happened at the theater and called Detective Charles Vaught of the city’s police department. He confronted Lis again and said he told him, “Unless he took a lie detector test and aced it, I don’t want to see you again.”

Benson was aware Lis had a criminal record but said, “I thought that was juvenile stuff. I was surprised he was implicated in this. He doesn’t have a drug or alcohol problem, nothing that he would need to turn up with money real quick.”

The owner of a company that has been in business for more than 20 years, Benson said, “I hate I’m anyway involved in it. You can’t account for one person’s actions.”

Lis was arrested by Vaught and Corey Dixon in Havelock and charged with felonious larceny and possession of stolen goods. The soundboard was recovered.