A 42-year-old Barker Road man remains behind bars today facing four charges relating to the rape and sexual abuse of an underage female.
Raymond Davis of 1330 Barker Road, Clinton is jailed under a $300,000 bond, charged with two felony counts of rape of a child and two additional felony counts of indecent liberties of a child.
According to Sampson County Sheriff’s reports, Davis was taken into custody Friday around 5 p.m., some seven months after an investigation into the incidents began.
The child, a 14-year-old female, is not from Sampson County, Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Pope said Monday, but the alleged incidents, he pointed out, took place here.
The incident, he said, was reported on May 1.
It is the length of time it takes to process a juvenile sexual abuse case that can be attributed to the distance between when the incident was reported and the actual arrest. Though frustrating, Pope said it was a necessary delay brought on by all the pieces that must be put together in order to produce an iron-clad case.
“Everything that is included in the investigation of a juvenile case takes time,” Pope pointed out. “From the collection of evidence and the forensics to working with all the agencies that must be involved in these cases, it all takes weeks and months, and usually many months to get all the pieces put together.”
That’s especially true, it seems, with the rising number of sexual abuse cases involving juveniles.
“We’ve seen an increase,” Pope acknowledged. “It’s why we added another juvenile investigator a couple years back. The case load keeps increasing and we needed the manpower.”
That officer is funded through the federal government by way of the Department of Social Services and is, Pope said, very much needed in a county like Sampson where the number of juvenile cases such as this one continues to rise.
“We are seeing a pattern of abuse. It’s a disgusting pattern, but one that is, unfortunately, on the rise.”
The proof can be found in the number of arrests involving indecent liberties, rape and incest of children, Pope pointed out.
Just this past weekend, it was reported in The Sampson Independent that a 30-year Rosin Hill Road man had been jailed for second degree forcible rape, statutory rape and felony incest of a child under the age of 15. Primitvivo Arias had been charged earlier this year with taking indecent liberties with a child.
“We are seeing more and more of it,” Pope attested. “It’s something you hate to see, but the truth is, it’s out there and we are doing everything we can to put these folks in jail.”
Davis is currently in the Sampson County Detention Center. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 12 in Sampson County District Court.