Posted on 08/13/2009 7:55:29 PM PDT by MitchellC
Many people in the community have been telling us for months that the behavior with Senator Soles and various young men in Columbus County has been happening for a long time. Today, we are taking a look at why there is no official action has been taken to date.
"He did try to molest me when I was 15 years old,” said Soles’ client, Stacey Scott in August 2008.
Stacey Scott tells NewsChannel 3 there are a lot of reasons he has not come forward before now to talk to authorities about State Senator RC Soles. One of them is money.
“Would you refuse 3, 4 thousand dollars? He just hands it to me, hands it to me, and says, ‘don't tell nobody where you got this. You can get in a lot of trouble’,” Scott said.
Stacey Scott also said Senator Soles wields a lot of power in Columbus County. He said he did not know if anybody would do anything about it if he did come forward.
“He said, ‘I'll have you done away with and nobody will ever ask questions. Don't you know who I am? I'm a senator. I've been a senator for 40 years’," added Scott.
What's more, Scott did not think anyone would listen to him. He has a criminal record, which is why he was a legal client of Senator Soles. "Nobody is ever going to believe anybody like me with my criminal record. Nobody is going to believe me,” he said. “But RC Soles is not the man he paints the picture to be."
There is no way for us to know if Stacey Scott is telling the truth. Senator Soles has consistently refused to speak with us about these serious allegations. But Scott's story meshes with speculation that has gone on in Tabor City for years. We asked the district attorney for Columbus County if his office has ever acted on these accusations.
"We can't prosecute people because of things we hear out in the community, or things we know are being said, it takes evidence,” said Columbus County DA Rex Gore.
Stacey Scott's interview with us may have changed the playing field. The State Bureau of Investigation is now looking into these charges of molestation, but DA Rex Gore said it will be an uphill battle. "Sex crimes are difficult to prosecute. It is very seldom that you'll see cases go to the point where arrests are made and people's lives are altered, based on one person's uncorroborated statement.”
Difficult to prove or not, Mr. Gore said Senator Soles close ties to many of those in law enforcement will not hinder this investigation. “I would hope that the public would start with the proposition that the elected district attorneys in this state are committed to doing our job, and our job is to prosecute crime," Gore said.
We want to repeat that we have been trying to talk with the senator about not only these charges, but also about reports we have done on 17-year-old Allen Strickland. Senator Soles bought the Tabor City teen a house, and gives him a generous allowance. The senator told another news organization it was simply a kind gesture for a good friend, and Allen Strickland tells us there is nothing sexual going on between the two of them. However, there are still dozens of unanswered questions. And we continue, as recently as this afternoon, with our attempts to talk to Senator Soles.
Clients of Senator Soles say they were questioned by FBI regarding prostitution and molestation(August 12, 2009)
For some time now, we've had information and documents that indicate an ongoing FBI investigation of R.C. Soles, the state's longest serving senator. Wednesday, a Tabor City newspaper published interviews with both Sen. Soles and one source about that investigation. In fact, there's much more to this story that we've been investigating now for the past year, and today we feel compelled to tell you what we know.
Seventeen-year-old Allen Strickland has been in the news for weeks, ever since his new house in Tabor City caught fire in an apparent arson. On July 1, a few weeks before that fire, Allen and a few of his friends, all clients of State Sen. R.C. Soles, sat down with WWAY’s Ann McAdams to discuss problems they were having with the Senator. They told Ann about being called to testify before the FBI, about possible misconduct on the part of the Senator. Ann asked Allen what they testified about. “About molestation, about prostitution,” Strickland said.
"I went to Raleigh and went before the grand jury and they questioned me for about six-and-a-half hours,” said Jackie Jordan, one of Soles’s clients.
This wasn't the first time we'd heard stories like this. A year ago, another one of Sen. Soles’s clients named Stacey Scott talked to us about his testimony before the FBI. His recollection of the line of questioning was very similar.
“The FBI is investigating him, as far as I know, for embezzlement, arson, child molestation,” Scott said. "He (Soles) did try to molest me when I was 15 years old, and I have not told the feds that. He tried to grab by my genitalia and I backed off and I said, ‘You know my dad would kill you.’ He said, 'Please don't tell nobody,’ and he gave me a thousand dollars."
Shortly after Scott testified for the grand jury, he says he was picked up by two private investigators for Soles, who spent hours asking him questions.
"'Has R.C. Soles ever molested you?' 'Has he ever paid you to do certain things like burn down Dewey Hill's grocery store and everything,' which is what I was questioned about in federal court,” Scott said.
Unlike Strickland, Scott said he'd lost his copy of his federal subpoena. We have not aired that interview until now in fairness to the Senator, but in light of recent developments, and the Senator's consistent refusal to talk to NewsChannel 3 about these troubling allegations, and most recently, him accusing us of tabloid journalism, we're now moving forward and telling you exactly why we've been so anxious to talk to him for so long.
Although we've seen two different federal subpoenas, where the people being served told us they were asked to testify about Soles, the FBI would not confirm or deny that an investigation is going on.
In addition to the documents we've seen, we have much more first-hand testimony that we've been reluctant to air without first talking to the Senator, but he's made it impossible for us to do our job the way we'd prefer.
Again Wednesday, the Senator refused our request to talk to him. We will continue to reach out to him for comment.
Wow! That’s really about all I can say.
Democratic Culture of Corruption and Perversion BUMP.
Since the accused is a Democrat, I expect to never see this in the national mainstream media.
This man is such a hottie, it was probably hard for them to resist!
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/gascripts/members/viewMember.pl?sChamber=S&nUserID=42
Until the Feds (or State Prosecutors, or someone official) come out and say something....I'll give this guy the benefit of the doubt.
A reporter, who definitely has an axe to grind, interviews a bunch of kids....who may or may not have an axe to grind, then publishes the hearsay and calls it "news".
However...if I was a local LEO, I'd be more than mildly interested in the story. Wouldn't surprise me at all if someone on the local police was "helping" the reporter find out a few things.
Also, interesting that the story didn't ID Soles as a Dem. :-)
I can see the point about the kids, but I’m not sure how this reporter has an axe to grind. Am I missing something?
in fairness to the Senator, but in light of recent developments, and the Senator's consistent refusal to talk to NewsChannel 3 about these troubling allegations, and most recently, him accusing us of tabloid journalism, we're now moving forward and telling you exactly why we've been so anxious to talk to him for so long.
Sounds like an axe to grind, to me.
Mind you, I'm not taking any sides here, I just think this looks like pretty shoddy "journalism". If it turns out that the newshound is right, the senator ought to get what he deserves.
Jury is still out, IMHO. :-)
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