Law enforcement investigating lewd and lascivious acts

The following press release has been issued by Murphy Police Department.  All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

On June 1st 2017, the Murphy Police Department along with the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office arrested Mark Newlyn Patterson of Graham County, NC for Cyber Stalking. The Murphy Police Department along with the assistance of the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office and the North Carolina Department of Probation and Parole have been investigating multiple criminal acts of lewd and lascivious acts by Patterson since 5/11/2017 that may have taken place in the Konehete Park in Murphy.

This investigation is ongoing at this time. Until this point, no one was able to identify the suspect or willing to follow through with charging the suspect. Officers were able to identify the suspect as Mark  Newlyn Patterson. Through the cooperation of the general public and social media, arrest warrant for Patterson where taken out on 06/01/2017 for cyber stalking. We encourage the public if you have been a victim of a crime from Mark Newlyn Patterson to please come forward and report it to the appropriate law enforcement agency. If the crime took place in the city limits of Murphy please report it to the Murphy Police Department, If the crime took place outside the city limits of Murphy, you can report the crime to the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office.

​Mark Newlyn Patterson is now banned from the areas of the Konehete Park,  Murphy River Walk, and the town of Murphy Library.

 "I would like to thank all the law enforcement agencies and the public involved in this investigation." 
- Dustin Smith, Assistant Chief of Police, Murphy Police Department

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