NC Man Charged with Rape of Child

By Sam Thrift Thursday, January 19, 2012

A North Carolina man was arrested by the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 4 for sexual offenses that allegedly happened about four years ago against a 12-year-old acquaintance at Great Wolf Lodge.

Ronald Lee Murray, a 50-year-old from Poplar, NC, is charged with two counts of rape, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and one count of indecent liberties with a child. The offenses allegedly occurred multiple times between November 2007 and January 2008 while staying at the Great Wolf Lodge, according to Lt. Dennis Ivey of the sheriff's office. The victim was 12 years old at the time of the offense.

Murray is being held without bond at the Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail, with a preliminary hearing set for March 15.

Ivey said the arrest took so long because of the investigation process and the difficulty that comes with the victim living in North Carolina.

According to Lindsey Voorhees of the Currituck County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina, Murray was arrested July 28 for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two counts of rape of a 13- to 15-year-old, indecent liberties with minor of 16 years old or five years older than a child in Currituck.

Currituck made bond for his crimes in North Carolina in August, Voorhees said.

Voorhees did not know if both crimes involved the same victim.