A Southern Pines man is behind bars under a $1 million secured bond after he was arrested Thursday for the distribution of child exploitation material on social media.
The Moore County Sheriff’s Department charged James Davis, 35, with 18 counts of felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and 18 counts of felony third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after an undercover investigation that included the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations (NCSBI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
“It is up to all of us to be aware of the dangers our children could face on the internet,” said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields in a statement on Friday morning. “As your Sheriff, you have my commitment that the Moore County Sheriff’s Office will stay aggressive in the continuous efforts to keep our children safe from online predators and such.”
Information from the Moore County Detention Center lists the offense date as Oct. 22, 2020.
Fields said his department, the NCSBI, and the FBI “are all active participants of the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce.”
Pinehurst Police, with the assistance of the Moore County Sheriff’s Department and the NCSBI, arrested Davis in 2018 while he was living in Pinehurst for 28 counts of sexual exploitation of a minor.
Davis has a March 25 court date and is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
