A Mill Spring man is being accused of sexual misconduct with a girl under the age of 16 on 70 occassions.
Terry Allen Shehan, 39, of 4532 Hwy. 108 East, Mill Spring was arrested on Tuesday and charged with three counts of felony statutory rape. The Polk County Sheriffs Office says it has warrants for another 67 counts, but is awaiting Shehans release from the hospital for a medical issue this week to serve the remainder.
Sgt. Tonya Lindsey says the alleged incidents occurred with the same victim over a three-year period. Due to the nature of the alleged crimes, officers did not offer any details nor discuss the relationship Shehan has with the victim.
Lindsey says she was given information on the alleged rapes about a week and a half ago and began the investigation. The investigation led officers to obtain a search warrant of Shehans home and at that point he was arrested on three counts.
“It is shocking and disheartening,” Sgt. Lindsey, who handles sexual crimes for the sheriffs office said Wednesday during a press conference.
Shehan faced similiar sexual charges in 1998, but those charges were dismissed, according to the sheriffs office. The 1998 charges were similiar charges on a different victim than the current charges, officers said.
Shehan was also recently in the Polk County Court system for unrelated crimes in February. He pleaded guilty to five counts of obtaining property under false pretenses and failure to work after being paid. He was then accused of giving potential remodeling customers estimates and taking their money, but not performing the work agreed upon.
He was sentenced to pay over $82,000 in restitution and received a sentence of 50 months in prison, but that sentence was suspended to serve five years of probation. Shehan appealed his sentence in that case and will be heard at the N.C. Court of Appeals level sometime in the future.
Shehan was in court Wednesday. He is currently being held on a $50,000 secured bond for three counts charged so far. Sheriffs officials say the bond will increase once Shehan is charged with the remaining 67 counts.
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