Sex Offender Arrested for being too close to Daycare Facility

1/8/2016

Justin Ryan Barber

The following press release has been issued by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Murphy, NC— Cherokee County Sheriff Derrick Palmer announced the January 08, 2016 arrest of Justin Ryan Barber, a 26-year-old Murphy, North Carolina man for violations of the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry.

In May 2015, information was made known to the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office that Barber, a registered sex offender, was going on the grounds of a local daycare. An investigation was conducted and the investigator who collected information presented it to the October 2015 Cherokee County Grand Jury which handed down the two count indictment for Sex Offender Being on or Near Protected Property.

Barber, who had been incarcerated in Union County, Georgia in mid-October 2015 for probation violations, waived extradition and was brought back to Cherokee County and was served with the indictments and taken before the North Carolina Magistrate who set a $10,000 secure bond.

Barber is currently being held in the Cherokee County Detention Center pending a February 29th, 2016 Superior Court hearing.

Sheriff Palmer encourages any one that has information to report it. To report crime in Cherokee County you can call the anonymous tip line at 828-837-1344 or email a tip at crime.tips@cherokeecounty-nc.gov or call 911 if you observe a crime in progress.