NC teacher arrested for child sex crimes after online dating prospect turns him in
A North Carolina elementary school teacher was arrested and charged with child sex crimes after he “revealed disturbing information about children” to a potential date online, authorities said.
The person on the dating site was so alarmed they notified the Cleveland County sheriff’s deputies according to a sheriff’s office news release.
Deputies interviewed 36-year-old Anthony Marqui Neal after learning he taught at a local elementary school, investigators said.
Neal teaches physical education at Washington Elementary School on Stoney Point Road in Shelby, according to the school website.
After interviewing Neal, authorities obtained a warrant to search his home and seized several electronic devices, officials said.
The devices displayed images and a video of children involved in sex acts, the sheriff’s office said. None of the children attend schools in the Cleveland County school system, investigators said.
School administrators suspended Neal on the same day of his arrest.
Deputies charged Neal with first-, second- and third-degree sex exploitation of a minor. Neal is free on a $150,000 bond, jail records show.
Neal didn’t immediately return phone and email messages from The Charlotte Observer.