Siler City: more Hispanic illegal alien sex crime charges | Ralph Baric retires amid gain-of-function allegations from feds
No. 176 — May 10-May 16, 2026
Students in public school systems across the Triangle (and the United States) aren’t testing so well. Does this correlate with changing demographics?
We have not one, but two stories involving illegal aliens and underage sex crimes in the majority-Hispanic Siler City, including another sting by the “predator hunters” whose work led to the arrest of an alleged pedophile in Raleigh last year.
UNC coronavirologist Ralph Baric is retiring as the federal government has officially moved to cut him off from any future grants, though the reasons given aren’t directly related to the origins of COVID-19 or his colleagues at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
What does the data show about collapsing student performance?
‘Learning recession’: NC student performance in reading, math worse than peers a decade ago - ABC11
New Education Scorecard Finds “U-Shaped Recovery”: High- and Low-Income Districts Improve Most Since 2022, While Middle-Income Districts (30-70% Federally Subsidized Lunches) Lag - Education Scorecard
Academic performance for students across America has yet to bounce back from pandemic era policy, according to recent reports and test data.
However, the “learning recession” appears to have begun before 2020, with certain education metrics already in decline when the schools were shut down.
Testing data from the twelve school districts in the Triangle Trumpet’s beat confirm this pattern, with the the standardized test scores failing to return to 2018-2019 levels.
However, one potential factor which often goes ignored in the discussion surrounding average test scores is the changing student demographics due to replacement migration and racial disparities in the exercise of school choice.
For instance, in 2024-2025, Asian students at districts across the Triangle were over three times more likely to test as “college and career ready” than black students in those same public schools.
The demographics of these districts have significantly changed in only 10 years, with the Asian and Hispanic public school populations has been steadily growing, while the number of white students has gone down.
However, the pattern of decreasing performance in standardized testing is fairly consistent across the major racial/ethnic groups in each of these public schools districts:
Although the significant increase in above-average demographics like Asians across these districts has counter-balanced the decrease in above-average white students and the increase below-average Hispanic students, the demographic replacement may be responsible for a larger portion of changing performance at the district or school level.
Siler City: Two more Hispanic illegal immigrants identified in underage sex crimes
Despite having a population of less than 9,000, Siler City continues to punch above it’s weight in crimes involving illegal aliens and sexual abuse of children, reflective of a town which has rapidly become majority Hispanic due to (failed) immigration policy.
(Data from neighboring Wake County shows that Hispanics are overrepresented in arrests for statutory sex crimes against minors.)
Last year, two Hispanic illegal aliens were charged with abducting a 15-year-old girl from Siler City for sexual purposes, while in another case a Hispanic resident of Carrboro who had previously plead guilty to sex crimes involving children was charged with kidnapping and human trafficking a minor female who had been reported missing from Siler City.
And in another immigration and sex crime related story, the charges against an employee of the Siler City Police charged with visa-related fraud were dropped after one of the alleged victims was charged with “sex offense crimes” and went on the run.
Previous Coverage:
Pair charged with kidnapping 15-year-old from Siler City identified as illegal aliens (No. 114 — Mar. 8, 2025)
Kidnapping/grooming epidemic continues w/ registered sex offender accused of trafficking another underage girl in Siler City (No. 120 — Apr. 19, 2025)
Siler City Police employee caught running visa scam (No. 140 — Sep. 6, 2025)
Ciudad Siler (No. 147 — Oct. 25, 2025)
Siler City Police employee ducks visa-related fraud charges after “victim” charged with sex offenses, flees country (No. 166 — Mar. 7, 2026)
Illegal alien charged with grooming, extorting child was working for Amazon, Uber
Man held on ICE detainer, facing over 50 felony charges for exploiting minor on Snapchat - Queen City News
ICE fugitive arrested in Gaston County on dozens of child sexual exploitation charges - WCNC
Gaston County Police FAST Team Arrests Man Wanted for Multiple Child Sex Offenses - Press Release
According to court documents, an ICE detainer has been filed for Jose Isaias Martel-Arriaga, 23, of Honduras, who was arrested in Gaston County on nearly 60 counts from the Siler City Police Department for allegedly grooming and extorting a 14-year-old victim via Snapchat.
Despite being a wanted person by ICE for failure to appear for removal proceedings, court documents list Martel-Arriaga as being employed by Amazon and Uber Eats.
Martel-Arriaga faces 40 counts of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, nine counts of indecent liberties with a minor, four counts of solicitation of a child by computer, three counts of solicitation of a child for prostitution and three counts of extortion.
“Predator hunters” catch Siler City illegal in underage sex sting
In another unrelated case, Alex Rosen of Predator Poachers visited Siler City last week to expose another “predator” who allegedly was sending “disgusting images” to and attempting to meet up with who he believed was a 13-year-old girl.
Walter Armindo Morales De Paz, 30, was arrested by the Siler City Police and was charged with five counts of solicitation a child by computer; court records show Morales De Paz has been a resident of Chatham County for nine years, despite lacking legal immigration status, and is subject to an ICE detainer.
In a previously reported on story, Rosen busted an alleged pedophile in Raleigh in July 2025, who admitted to having child pornography on his cell phone, resulting in an arrest by Raleigh Police three months later, in which Daniel Bondowski, 52, was charged with twenty counts of second degree second exploitation of a minor.
Raleigh resident arrested on twenty child pornography charges after sting by "Predator Poachers"
Daniel Bondowski, 52, of Raleigh, was arrested today and charged with twenty counts of second degree second exploitation of a minor for the possession of child sexual abuse material involving victims as young as five.
Follow-up
Confirmed: UNC coronavirologist to retire as feds block grant funding over gain of function misdeeds
Ralph Baric and UNC’s Biodefense Contract Racket Exposed - The DisInformation Chronicle
Virologist accused of starting COVID-19 will fight U.S. ban on funding - Science
UNC-Chapel Hill Coronavirus Researcher Ralph Baric to Retire - The Assembly
Top coronavirus researcher Ralph Baric will retire from UNC-Chapel Hill - N&O
72-year-old UNC coronavirologist Ralph Baric has announced his retirement amid public confirmation that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has suspended him from receiving federal grants while pursuing debarment to prohibit Baric from receiving future grants, as first reported by Real Clear Investigations last month.
According to the Notice of Suspension and Proposed Debarment, which Baric shared with the Science publication, the DHHS action is not directly related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology or the origins of COVID-19, but rather to a “deception” regarding prior gain-of-function research, as well as non-federal sources of grant funding.
Baric is accused of a “pattern of deception” regarding research related to a mouse-adapted strain of bat coronavirus in violation of a 2014 federal pause on gain-of-function research, as well as failing to provide data regarding the modified coronaviruses and “minim[izing] the concern about a potential increase infectivity in human cells.”
The letter also references a “clear attempt at deception” by Baric in regards to the reporting of external funding from UK-based Wellcome Trust.
As stated in the information in the record, the NIH found that, based on his own statements and published research, Dr. Ralph Baric was engaged in GoF research that was subject to the October 17, 2014, U.S. Government funding pause and NIH Notice Number: NOT-OD-15-011, Funding Pause for Certain Types of Gain-of-Function Research Projects to that effect, and continued to participate in in GoF research even after being notified of this by the NIH. Also, the NIH found that Dr. Ralph Baric was not forthcoming surrounding his Wellcome Trust grant in documents submitted to the NIH. Furthermore, as established in the information in the record, Dr. Ralph Baric is associated with multiple active NIH-funded grant awards.
— Notice of Suspension and Proposed Debarment of Ralph Baric, PhD
Baric characterized these accusations as “bulls--t” in the Science piece, where he also stated his intent to fight the debarment, which he referred to as “being strung out for being a scientist.”
Previous Coverage:
Public Records Lawsuit Against UNC by Medical Watchdog Group Investigating COVID-19 Origins Advances (Original Article — Nov. 6, 2023)
UNC claims “research project collaborations” are exempt from public records statute in COVID-19 origins investigation lawsuit (No. 57 — Feb. 3, 2024)
U.S. Right to Know public records lawsuit reveals efforts to evade transparency (No. 58 — Feb. 10, 2024)
Coronavirus Pandemic Subcommittee alleges FBI interest in UNC/COVID origins public records requests (No. 59 — Feb. 17, 2024)
UNC COVID-19 Origins Public Records Lawsuit: what does “proprietary mean”? (No. 61 — Mar. 2, 2024)
“Stop Gain of Function” rally at UNC-Chapel Hill (No. 62 — Mar. 9, 2024)
UNC-linked coronavirus researcher accused of “discrepancies in testimony” (No. 66 — Apr. 6, 2024)
UNC coronavirologist Ralph Baric: “can’t rule out” lab leak origin of COVID-19 (No. 70 — May 4, 2024)
3rd Party Report Finds UNC Withheld Public Records Requested by Medical Watchdog Group Investigating COVID-19 Origins (Original Article — Aug. 1, 2024)
Judge rules in favor of UNC in public records suit brought by medical watchdog investigating COVID-19 (No. 94 — Oct. 19, 2024)
U.S. Right to Know appeals public records lawsuit ruling vs UNC (No. 99 — Nov. 23, 2024)
UNC lab leaks? Evidence indicates seven lab-acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections in Chapel Hill during pandemic, researchers say (interview) (Original Article — Apr. 26, 2025)
US Right to Know files brief filed in appeal of UNC COVID-origins public records lawsuit (No. 126 — May 31, 2025)
COVID-19 origins transparency? Legislative committee requests UNC records (No. 128 — Jun. 14, 2025)
AG Jackson files response to COVID-19 origins public records appeal (No. 136 — Aug. 9, 2025)
Appeals court sides with UNC in public records lawsuit over COVID-19 origins (No. 158 — Jan. 10, 2026)
Lead COVID-19 virologist placed on leave from UNC? (No. 174 — May 2, 2026)
Great reporting, as always, Stephen. I appreciate the detailed breakdown of education trends and the follow up on past stories.