Parole agreement revoked for man convicted of killing New Hanover County store owner

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — A man convicted of first degree murder has had his parole agreement revoked, effective immediately.

Benjamin Peterson is in prison for the 1992 murder of Charles Oakley. According to online records, Oakley, who owned Allen’s Sports Supply, was found incoherent and bleeding from his head inside the store. The front panel of the register was turn off and the drawer had been pried open.

Oakley remained in the hospital until he was taken off of life support and died in October of 1992.

The victim died as the result of a subdural hematoma due to blunt trauma to the head.

Peterson was found guilty in 1994 and sentenced to life in prison.

On June 27, 2023, the Post-Release Supervision and Parole Commission approved Peterson for parole via the Mutual Agreement Parole Program (MAPP). MAPP is a scholastic and vocational program that is a three-way agreement between the Commission, the Division of Prisons and the offender.

Now, the state says: Effective immediately, Peterson’s MAPP agreement has been terminated.

His case will again be reviewed for parole purposes on or about June 1, 2026.

The state’s current sentencing law, Structured Sentencing, eliminates parole for crimes committed on or after Oct. 1, 1994. However, the Commission has the responsibility of paroling offenders who were sentenced under previous sentencing guidelines.