May 20, 2013
He thought he was sending pornographic pictures and video of himself to a 12-year old girl he met on the Internet. Turns out it was an undercover officer from Virginia posing as the child. Now, 51-year-old Gary Lee Beard of New Bern is charged with taking indecent liberties with children and use of a communications medium to solicit a child. Under Virginia law, soliciting an undercover officer posing as a child is a felony, and that's what beard is charged with. In North Carolina, it's only a misdemeanor, something lawmakers want to change.
