Tuesday morning, a city of Richmond employee doing maintenance work at Dillingham Park noticed an extension cord running from a park building to a neighboring unoccupied home.
The police were called and found that Derrick B. Parks was the person helping himself to the city's electricity.

Richmond parks official says one of the main concerns is the potential fire hazard that comes with running multiple electrical devices off of one outlet.
But the man being charged says someone stealing their electricity should be the least of the city's worries.

"All the kids running around here without no supervision, and then all the drugs and stuff," said Derrick Parks.

Parks says he was just using the electricity out of necessity to finish a flooring project inside his soon to be home, hooking up a light and a few saws to the borrowed outlet.

"Neighbors wasn't there that morning, to use it, and I was trying to, where I had a hole cut out, fix it and get it put in before I had to be in class," said Parks.

Parks, who owns the house next to the park, says he had used the same tactic before, but added he never used the city's outlet for more than an hour or so.

"It was just that I needed power to get some work done, and that's the only choice I had at the time," Parks said.