Charlotte Criminal Lawyer Blog
Attorney J. Bradley Smith answering the question: “What are the long term effects of being convicted of a crime?”
A 26-year-old teacher with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was arrested earlier this week and stands accused of taking indecent liberties with a student. Officials say the man, David Cale Allison, was employed at Hopewell High School, which is also where the crime is alleged to have taken place.
Officials with the Huntersville, NC police department say they first began investigating the case on November 21st when they were alerted to possible trouble by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools officials. Authorities say that an investigation later revealed that there had been inappropriate contact and text messaging between Allison and a student at the school during school hours.
Police say the inappropriate contact consisted of flirtatious text messages sent by Allison to the student during and even outside of school. Additionally, there was one incident when Allison is accused of engaging in inappropriate physical contact with the minor.
Police officers say they believe the case is an insolated incident and that other students at Hopewell were never at risk. They also noted that Allison had only been employed as a physical education teacher at the school since August of last year and that this was his first job with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Currently Allison is suspended without pay pending a final determination in his case.
Sexual assault charges in North Carolina are incredibly serious offenses and can leave lasting stains on a person’s record. Such charges might even require registration with the state’s Sex Offender Registry, something that can dramatically impact the way you live your life.
Police with CMPD say they were assisted by officers at UNCC. The checkpoint took place on Runnymede Lane near Michael Baker Place, close to Myers Park High School. According to a spokesperson, the checkpoint resulted in a total of 48 charges, 21 of which were for driving while intoxicated (DWI). Three of the charges concerned driving with a revoked license, eight were for driving without a license, two were for open container and 14 were for more minor traffic violations such as out of date tags. 
A spokesperson for ALE said that the raid was the result of a six-month investigation conducted by various law enforcement agencies after local authorities received complaints about a range of illegal activities taking place at The Ranch, a local nightclub. Agents who participated in the raid say they discovered employees who sold illegal drugs to patrons, others that engaged in prostitution and other sexual offenses and still others who broke state alcohol control laws. 
Authorities say that the two suspects walked off with a large supply of drugs from the CVS located on Blocking Rock Road. Though they are currently on the loose, security footage from inside the store gave investigators a glimpse at their faces as well as an idea of the car the two are driving.
The first point made by the editorial board is that when criminal investigations are run cheaply it can mean unsolved or even undetected crimes. Every year cases go unsolved and still others go unnoticed by law enforcement officials. Though unsolved crime is certainly a problem, the real worry is that underfunded criminal investigations lead to accusations against innocent people, sometimes even convictions for those who never did anything wrong. The problem is a serious one with a recent investigation revealing that North Carolina seriously underfunds its criminal investigations. In fact, a recent study said that the state spends about 3/5th as much as the national average on its investigations, a glaring problem.
So far police have not released the boy’s name, but say that he faces criminal charges after supposedly dropping his infant brother on his head repeatedly until he died. The case began this past weekend when police were called to a home in Charlotte, NC where they discovered a seven-month-old boy unresponsive. The child was rushed to Carolinas Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Prosecutors say that Joseph Anthony Mitchell decided to reject a plea deal that he had been offered late last week and instead pled not guilty to one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted first-degree murder. After his rejection of the plea deal, his case will now move forward to a full criminal trial, which is currently scheduled for March. Prosecutors have revealed that they will not seek the death penalty in the case.
An official with the Rock Hill Police Department says that 76 warrants have been taken out against Paul Fuller and Travis Alston, all related to burglaries committed in the area. The warrants are voluminous and include everything from second-degree burglary, criminal conspiracy, grand larceny and, unusually, safe cracking.
Authorities say that Cuthrell, minister of music at Gospel Shepherd Baptist Church, poured oil and gasoline across his rental home and set it on fire to avoid pressing financial obligations. At his sentencing, Cuthrell spoke out saying he was ashamed and embarrassed about his behavior, claiming that it was the most irrational decision of his life.