North Carolina Criminal Law Blog

A former resident of North Carolina pled guilty last week to federal charges in connection with a $32.5 million Ponzi scheme. The federal money laundering charges were brought against the 60-year-old man for his role in inducing investments with false statements and fraudulent misrepresentations through the business Queen Shoals Consultants.

The Florida man used to live in North Carolina but moved to St. Augustine, Florida, recently. The former NC man received $1.9 million from other man for his role in Queen Shoals Consultants. He entered the guilty plea for the white collar crime charges in Charlotte last week. The man faces up to 10 years in prison. His sentencing has not yet been scheduled. The other man was sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in the Ponzi scheme.

A North Carolina developer is facing criminal charges once again. This time, the developer has been charged with 72 counts of obtaining money by false pretenses. The man was charged last year with insurance fraud and obtaining money by false pretenses.

These white collar crimes are tied to allegations that the developer pocketed health insurance premiums rather than paying for coverage. According to last year's indictment, the developer allegedly kept $10,412 from employees' paychecks but did not transfer that money to a health insurance company.

North Carolina residents will soon have the ability to track the location of a registered sex offender on their iPhone, thanks to a new app that is being unveiled by the state's attorney general. The tracking application searches within one, three and five miles of your current location.

The app will be launched this week. Currently, the app is only available for iPhone users, but they are working on an Android version of the app. This particular sex offender search app is in addition to the availability of the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry online. The Registry is not a live view of where the offender is at any given point. Rather it lists the address of the offender.

More than 200 registered sex offenders received house calls from sheriff's deputies last week. The goal was to "knock-and-talk" to offender to check on probation and sentence compliance.

In particular, they wanted to make sure that the sex offender was actually residing at the listed address, which is a requirement following a sex offense conviction in North Carolina. If a sex offender moves or vacates an apartment, he or she has the responsibility to notify the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry of the change of address so the local community can be notified.

A man from Roanoke Rapids who was accused of distributing illegal cigarettes and contraband pled guilty to federal charges Monday. The man was accused of running the illegal cigarettes and other contraband for the cigarettes through North Carolina and other states on the East Coast.

The man was indicted by a federal grand jury last February on 40 federal charges. The main allegations against the man were that he "conspired to profit from illegal trade of large quantities of 'export only' cigarettes," the RR Daily Herald reported.

A federal appeals court in New Mexico ruled that it was unconstitutional under the First Amendment to ban sex offenders from going to the public library. The appeals panel, however, said that less restrictive rules about library participation for sex offenders may not be unconstitutional. The city is considering appealing the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The facts leading to the case involved a New Mexico mayor who issued an order to the city's sex offenders prohibiting them from using the public library. The administrative injunction was challenged by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the sex offender who was affected by the injunction.

A 21-year-old man has been charged for his role in providing a 1.75 liter of Bacardi Dragon Berry before a fatal crash that killed a Raleigh high school student. The girl was riding in a car on Rainwater Road when the driver lost control of the car and struck a tree. The driver has been charged with DWI/DUI and other charges related to the fatal car accident.

According to the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement agents, they believe that a 21-year-old man supplied the alcohol to the underage students at the a house party. He is charged with providing the drinks to the driver and the student killed in the crash along with two other counts of providing alcohol to two other girls who were not in the car at the time of collision.

A Wilmington basketball coach has been sued in civil court for damages stemming from the sexual assault of an autistic girl in 2008. The youth coach pled guilty to third-degree rape in New York and sexual assault in North Carolina of the then 16-year-old girl.

The coach was charged in New York because of a traveling trip from North Carolina to New York where law enforcement authorities said the coach raped the girl. He was sentenced to short prison sentences for the charges and he was released. According to records with the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry, the man currently lives in Wilmington.