Wendy's noose search (cultural appropriation?) | CSAM arrests across Triangle | JoCo priest soliciting male prostitute?
No. 136 — Aug. 3-Aug. 9, 2025
This week's stories:
Wake County
WRAL searches Cary for Wendy's nooses
Investigations result in child sexual abuse charges in five Triangle counties
One year after getting allegations censored, Wake Forest ex-commissioner charged with stealing $70k
Johnston County
JoCo priest charged with soliciting male prostitute in parking lot of Catholic church
Investigations result in child sexual abuse charges in five Triangle counties
Orange County
AG Jackson files response to COVID-19 origins public records appeal
Investigations result in child sexual abuse charges in five Triangle counties
Harnett County
Person County
Investigations result in child sexual abuse charges in five Triangle counties
WRAL searches Cary for Wendy's nooses
Noose at Wendy’s in NC takes ‘Wednesday’ TV series promotion too far - N&O
Cary Wendy’s removes noose display, which was part of Netflix promotion campaign - WRAL
A promotional collaboration between Wendy's and Netflix's death and darkness themed "Wednesday" show has resulted in allegations of racism after a noose was spotted among various horror props at a Cary restaurant on Harrison Avenue.
The use of a noose was apparently unapproved by corporate and limited to one location, as confirmed by a Wendy’s spokesman and a WRAL search of nearby Wendy's locations.
Although a casual skeptic might chalk this story up to an instance of overzealous mainstream-media-supported woke activism, a more critical observer might argue that the offense taken is actually a clear instance of "cultural appropriation."
"Civil rights activists" may attempt to portray nooses as a symbol "rooted in a racist past" (as written in the WRAL report) used solely by racist white mobs to murder innocent-as-a-lamb black victims, with figures such as 173 "victims of racial lynching" in the state cited in Gov. Josh Stein's proclamation of June as Anti-Lynching Awareness Month .
The truth, however, is that Europeans were hanging each other for centuries during which the thought of black people never once crossed their minds. The first known reference to hanging as a method of execution is in Homer's Odyssey, and is well attested to as a method of capital punishment in Europe since the Middle Ages.
The English settlers brought hanging to America, with early instances in North Carolina including George Senecca, an Indian who was turned over to the English by the Meherrin tribe and sentenced to hang for murdering an English woman and her two infant children with an axe.
Public executions by hanging were a community event, with the last public hanging in Nash County in 1900 attracting a reported 35,000 for the execution of a pair of serial thieves whose crime spree ended after killing and robbing a man in Rocky Mount.
The art of hanging was refined to the point of developing tables of drop height and convict weight to ensure the neck would be humanely broken without reaching the level of force to cause decapitation, which did happen on occasion.
The last hanging ordered by a North Carolina court occurred in Bladen County in 1910, before the state took over executions and switched to methods including electrocution and asphyxiation before settling on the currently approved method of lethal injection.
Hanging continued to be used as a method of execution well into the 20th century, including by the US military up until 1961 and for the execution of ten prominent Nazis convicted at the Nuremberg trials.
Taken from another point of view, the noose would more appropriately be a symbol of suicide; the number of Americans who hang themselves every year is about an order of magnitude higher than the worst year for extrajudicial "lynchings."
Somewhat ironically, black Americans who commit suicide are more likely to do so by hanging than white Americans.
However, even when all evidence points to the death of a black person being self-inflicted, such as that of 21-year-old truck driver Javion Magee in Vance County last year, activists may still spin it into a "lynching" narrative, even claiming that the majority-black city of Henderson is a "sundown town:"
Activists claim "lynching" of black man in Nash Co., black sheriff disagrees (No. 89 — Sep. 14, 2024)
Investigations result in child sexual abuse charges in five Triangle counties
Investigations by various law enforcement departments have resulted in recent charges relating to the sexual abuse and/or sexual material of children, including investigations involving the NC State Bureau of Investigation and the NC Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force:
Harnett County
Chad Michael Johnson, 36, has been charged by the Harnett County Sheriff's Office with four counts of first degree sexual exploitation of a minor for "encouraging" and "facilitating" the production of sexual material of five girls between the ages of 12-16.
According to a search warrant, deputies found the material on his phone after his wife reported that Johnson had set up his cell phone to record his sister-in-law in the bathroom of their Bunnlevel home and that he had disturbingly named folders on the phone which she could not access. (Johnson has also been charged with four counts of secret peeping.)
Johnson is a combat medical specialist stationed at Fort Bragg, and is being held in jail on a $200,000 bond.
Johnston County
Austin Barrett Crews, 37, of Middlesex has been charged with five counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor, one count of solicitation of a child by computer, and four counts related to meth found in his possession at the time of his arrest.
The Johnston County Sheriff's Office says it originally launched an investigation based on a tip from a child predator sting by the Owatonna Police Department in Minnesota, who say Crews attempted to meet with an 8-year-old girl.
While investigating, detectives also received unrelated tips regarding Crews from the NC SBI and the NC ICAC Task Force.
Crews was found living an an address with an adult female and two small children, and has previously plead guilty to meth-related charges
Crews is being held on a total bond of $370,000.
Michael Medlin, a former Johnston County Sheriff’s Deputy, and his wife, Ami Medlin, a former Johnston County teacher, have received probationary sentences after pleading guilty to charges relating to a former student of Ami's at Corinth Holders High.
Michael Medlin pleaded guilty to the charges of simple assault, providing alcohol to a minor, and accessing a government computer, while Ami Medlin pleaded guilty to indecent liberties with a student and is required to register as a sex offender.
Orange County
Carrboro resident Juan David Roa Unas, 30, has been released on a $5,000 bond after being charged with ten counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor for possessing/duplicating numerous pieces of child sexual abuse material involving victims as young as ten.
According to a press release, the NC SBI executed two search warrants on Unas based on five tips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children between January 2025 and March 2025.
However, the press release appears to be incorrect in claiming that Unas was in custody of the Orange County Detention Center as court documents and the sheriff's current detainee list indicate he had already been granted pretrial release.
Although Unas' race is listed as Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander in court documents, his ethnicity is listed as Hispanic on his voter registration.
Person County
Kyle Shonyo, 39, of Rougemont has been charged with ten counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor after an investigation in association with the NC SBI and Person County Sheriff's Office as part of the the NC ICAC Task Force resulted in a search of his phone and home and the seizure of "hundreds of videos and additional digital evidence."
Shonyo is being held on a $150,000 secured bond.
Wake County
Gary William Page, 78 of Raleigh has been charged with two counts of indecent liberties with a child relating to the sexual assault of an 11-year-old child in 2024.
Page has been released on a $25,000 unsecured bond.
JoCo priest charged with soliciting male prostitute in parking lot of Catholic church
Johnston County Priest Arrested On Felony Solicitation Charge - JoCo Report
Catholic priest in Johnston County arrested for soliciting prostitution - WRAL
Johnston County priest charged with prostitution in church parking lot - ABC11
A Catholic priest has been charged with solicitation after being caught in the parking lot of his Clayton church at approximately 1:00 AM with a homosexual prostitute he met on Grindr, according to the Johnston County Sheriff's Office
.Deputies in the area were looking for an unrelated juvenile when they spotted Clemente Guerrero Olvera, 47, attempting to flee on foot behind St. Ann Catholic Church while leaving a 20-year-old black male in a vehicle in the parking lot.
Olvera, who was serving as a parochial vicar at the church, has been "immediately removed from ministry in the Diocese of Raleigh" after being charged with soliciting prostitution (1st offense), a Class I felony.
Ja'quavis Keshon Brinson, who Olvera is alleged to have been soliciting, has been charged with prostitution, a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Olvera has been released on a $2,500 secured bond, and Brinson has been released on a $10,000 unsecured bond.
Follow-ups
AG Jackson files response to COVID-19 origins public records appeal
Attorney General Jeff Jackson has filed a response to US Right to Know in its appeal of the Orange County ruling which held that a number of the UNC records sought in their investigation into the origins of COVID-19 were covered by a research exemption to the state's public records law.
In addition to reiterating the arguments of the UNC lawyers at the lower court level in regards to the proper construction of NC GS § 116-43.17, which exempts "research data, records, or information of a proprietary nature" from the public records act, the response also cites a Virginia Supreme Court ruling on a similar exemption in our northern neighbor's public records law, with the VA court finding that it could cause "harm to university-wide research efforts, damage to faculty recruitment and retention, undermining of faculty expectations of privacy and confidentiality, and impairment of free thought and expression" if the public got ahold of certain research records including communication between public university researchers and private university researchers.
Related 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)
ICYMI: One year after getting allegations censored, Wake Forest ex-commissioner charged with stealing $70k
A Wake Forest ex-commissioner who was successful in pressuring an independent local news publisher to remove an article accusing her of embezzlement has been charged with embezzlement by the Wake Forest Police after a 13-month investigation, which appears to have been set in motion by that very article.
Elizabeth "Liz" Goddard Simpers, 49, has been charged with four counts of embezzlement totaling of $69,348.19 which she allegedly misappropriated while president of the Wake Forest Area Chamber of Commerce for personal expenses ranging from tree and plumbing services to a party bus rental.
Unlike the local mainstream media coverage, the Triangle Trumpet's coverage includes a scathing statement from Carol Pelosi of the Wake Forest Gazette, who first published the allegations last July:
Previous coverage:
Alleged embezzler Liz Simpers gets accusations removed from internet (No. 83 — Aug. 3, 2024)