Johnston County Commissioner Indicted On Indecent Liberties Charge

SMITHFIELD – Johnston County Commissioner Richard D. Braswell of Princeton has been indicted by a Johnston County Grand Jury. Court records obtained by The Johnston County Report indicate Braswell was named in a True Bill of Indictment on August 1, 2022 on a single count of felony indecent liberties with a child.

Commissioner Braswell was arrested for the same offense on June 29, 2022 by the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office. He was released a short time later under a $35,000 secured bond.

At the time, the sheriff’s office said they had been investigating Commissioner Braswell since June 6, 2022. On that date, a 13 year-old female juvenile came to the sheriff’s office accompanied by her family. The minor alleged she had an inappropriate interaction with the 73 year-old defendant.

According to the indictment, “…the defendant…willfully and feloniously did take and attempt to take immoral, improper, and indecent liberties with the child … for the purpose of arousing and gratifying sexual desire and did commit and attempt to commit a lewd and lascivious act upon the body of the child… At the time of the offense, the child … was under the age of 16 years of age and the defendant … was over 16 years of age and at least five years older than the child.” The alleged offense took place on April 18, 2022.

The True Bill of Indictment was signed by the Grand Jury Foreperson.

Commissioner Richard D. Braswell has been present at all county commission meetings since his arrest. He remains free on bond awaiting trial.

Reached Monday night, Mr. Braswell declined to comment on the allegations.

—

Related Article: Video: Citizens Call For Suspension, Resignation Of County Commissioner

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

24 COMMENTS

    • You do understand that bond is only withheld in certain circumstances and if its paid then he can go free until the trial? Everyone gets that, its not the good ole boys system it’s the judicial system. Is it flawed? Maybe but its the way the system works for everyone.

      • Not taking side here.A Grand Jury Indictment means there is evidence to indite It’s not a meaning of guilt.
        People need to learn the system and the process.Ill be the first to agree he should have resigned from Commissioner job.

        • Gand jury trivia questions?

          1. Can the defense have a attorney present during grand jury consideration?
          A. Not sure B. Yes C. No

          2. Does a grand jury have to be a unanimous decision?
          A. Not sure B. Yes C. No

          3. Can just a signed sworn accusation be presented to a grand jury?
          A. Not sure B. No C. Yes

          4. Can a grand jury indict a ham sandwich?
          A. Not sure B. No C. Yes

          Tip the answer is always C.

          • You know I love ya terrybarnes, but I gotta call you out on this…

            1. SCOTUS ruled says you have no constitutional right to a lawyer in a grand jury (ref the Hurtado case). Only some Socialist Liberal states grant this right (for example, the right is is enshrined in the NJ state constitution).

            2. No different than any other decisions. In NC, only a felony guilty verdict must be unanimous. NC grand jury does need a supermajority, though.

            3. The rules of evidence are dramatically different in a grand jury.

            4. I never pictured you as a Tom Wolfe fan! I know he has a reputation as a conservative, his personal life is much to the contrary. 🙂

  5. Well there are plenty of other sick f***s out here that is still running old Johnston county!!! I believe if everyone came forward with every allegation there would probably be just a hand full of men old men at that…that aren’t sick perverted men! It’s a dirty dirty world we live in! We just have to teach our children to be aware of these sick old men bc not everyone is brave or strong enough to reports these allegations. God bless this girl she was brave she had the courage she was strong. I pray she heals from any trauma he caused that little one. She was just 13!!!!!

    • @GodBlessYouAll: You say “We just have to teach our children to be aware of these sick old men…” Sorry, but that is 100% the wrong take. Why should we teach our children to avoid child molesters? Instead, how about teaching these sick old men NOT TO MOLEST CHILDREN! The victim did nothing wrong — why should she change her actions? It is Braswell who needs to change HIS actions!

      • Tell the truth you stated, ‘ Why should we teach our children to avoid child molesters? ‘ For the same reasons we teach them to avoid drug users, theives, liers, gangs, rapist, and killers to name a few. Children need to be taught the basic knowledge to recognize dangerous individuals.

        • @WACO: Nope! Instead of wasting effort telling children to avoid bad people, we should be enforcing the laws that lock up the drug dealers, et. al. WAKE UP JoCo, we reap what we sow!

          • @Tell the truth – Agreed about the justice system failing our children (and our society), but we know that humans are not perfect and many are evil. As such, parents do need to teach their children about evildoers and give them courage to report anything that they deem to be immoral or unacceptable. I can’t agree enough about the lack of legal consequences in Johnston County.

  11. How is he still in office? Why hasn’t he resigned or why haven’t they voted to remove him? Remove him from office!! Where are the protesters?

Comments are closed.