Catawba County Law Enforcement Leader Calls Out Cooper For Releasing At Least 170 Criminals Into Community
The Catawba County Sheriff is calling out former Governor Roy Cooper who is the Democrat nominee in the North Carolina Senate race for releasing at least 170 convicted criminals into Catawba County. Unlike Democrat Governors in Illinois and Colorado, Cooper appeased his liberal allies to release at least 3,500 criminals early to meet the liberal progressive goal of lowering prison populations under the guise of addressing pandemic concerns. At the time, the Cooper administration claimed they worked hard to identify prisoners who posed a low risk to society, but reporting from the New York Posts shows that almost half of them went onto reoffend, including charges for serious crimes like murder and sexual assault.
“Public safety starts with keeping violent criminals behind bars. Considering the number of convicted murderers, rapists, repeat offenders, and child predators released back into our communities across the state of North Carolina by Roy Cooper’s early release it's fair to ask whether public safety was ever the priority for this career politician. These failures are forcing local law enforcement leaders to deal with the consequences.” - Catawba County Sheriff Don Brown.
Here are some of the criminals released into Catawba County include:
Jason D. Cuthbertson was serving time for parole violations, after being arrested multiple times over the past decade for assault on a female, indecent liberty with a child, hit and run, and DWI, when he was released from prison. After being released, Cuthbertson was arrested just 3 months after his release for yet another child porn charge. This time he was arrested and charged with second degree sexual exploitation of a minor and third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
Jeffrey C. Moore, was serving a life sentence for first degree murder, previously had assault with deadly weapon inflicting serious injury charges.
Sylvester Crawford, serving a life sentence for first degree rape
Richard Clifford Gaither Jr. was serving time for the murder of 19-year-old Steven Darnell Simpson, who he shot in the head. Police say Gaither was driving the car and led them on a chase before he was arrested. He was charged with DWI and failure to stop for blue lights and sirens. After being released by Cooper, Gaither was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon, felony possession of a schedule II-controlled substance, and resisting a public officer.
Charles P. Hagans, career criminal with 8+ arrests, including indecent liberty with a child, failing to register as a sec offender, and more
Thomas E. Ikard, career criminal with 20+ arrests, including kidnapping, multiple assaults on females, assault charges, and more
Raleigh Wright, charges with murder second degree and was serving a life sentence
Jeffrey Davis, career criminal with 21+ arrests, including assault with a deadly weapon, trespassing, felony breaking and entering
Ronald Lane, was serving time for manslaughter
Noah A Miller, a career criminal with 13+ arrests, including breaking and entering, robbery with dangerous weapon, larceny after breaking and entering. After he was released in 2021 because of the covid-era settlement, he would go on to be arrested 8+ more times.
Brooks W. Atkins, a career criminal with 10+ arrests, including for assault on an officer, assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury, DUI, and more. After he was released because of the covid-era settlement, he would go on to be arrested 2+ times including for an attempted assault by strangulation.
