A Democratic North Carolina legislator accused of sexual offenses with a minor is now facing mounting calls for his resignation from the state House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
State Rep. Cecil Brockman was arrested Wednesday and charged with two counts of a statutory sex offense with a child, and two counts of indecent liberties with a child, in Guilford County, court records show. Brockman is being held without bail at the Guilford County jail. Brockman was expected to be in court on Thursday, but a medical emergency postponed the appearance to Friday.<\/p>\n
Brockman, a 41-year-old who has represented High Point in the state legislature for over a decade, wasn’t allowed to be released on bond. Authorities claimed in court documents that he attempted to contact the alleged victim in the hospital and attempted to \u201cuse his status to gain information on the whereabouts of the victim.\u201d<\/p>\n
The court documents don’t explain why the alleged victim, who is 15, was hospitalized.<\/p>\n
Brockman\u2019s legislative office didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
As the news broke Thursday, the top Republican and Democratic leaders in the state House each said Brockman should resign. So did Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, telling WRAL News in a statement that Brockman’s charges are “extremely serious and deeply troubling.”<\/p>\n
Stein continued, “While the legal process has yet to play out, it\u2019s clear he cannot effectively serve his constituents and should resign immediately.”<\/p>\n
House Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, originally said the allegations against Brockman are serious and “if true, would disqualify him from public office.”<\/p>\n
In an updated statement, Reives later added, “As we continue to learn more about the allegations against Rep. Brockman this morning, it has become clear that he is unable to continue serving in the House of Representatives. Rep. Brockman must resign immediately.”<\/p>\n
The North Carolina Democratic Party first called on Brockman to resign.\u00a0\u201cThe profound seriousness of these criminal charges makes it impossible for him to effectively represent his community,\u201d the party said in a statement.<\/p>\n
State House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, also called on Brockman to resign, calling the charges \u201cshocking and extremely serious.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the evidence that\u2019s publicly known, he should resign immediately so these charges do not distract from the work of the North Carolina House,\u201d Hall said in a statement.<\/p>\n
As news of the arrest broke Thursday, many of the state\u2019s top officials were in Durham for a celebration at pharmaceutical company Biogen<\/a>. Stein and Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt were there along with state lawmakers of both parties. <\/p>\n The news trickled through the plugged-in crowd, through constantly buzzing cell phones and whispered conversations in the corners. Legislators who attended the event declined to comment on the allegations against their colleague, with several Democrats referring comment to Reives\u2019 statement.<\/p>\n Brockman\u2019s arrest comes as Democrats are trying to block GOP-written bills from becoming law.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stein earlier this year vetoed several bills opposed by Democrats. One would allow North Carolinians over the age of 18 to carry guns without a concealed carry permit. <\/p>\n Another would require state and local government agencies to cooperate with deportation efforts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Other vetoed bills would eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion policies in state agencies and higher education.\u00a0<\/p>\n Legislators can override Stein\u2019s vetoes by passing bills with 60% support, known as a supermajority. Republicans hold a supermajority in the Senate but not in the House of Representatives, where they came one seat short in the most recent elections.<\/p>\n If Brockman is out and all other House members are present, Republicans only need one Democrat to vote with the GOP, or to be absent from the vote, in order to override Stein’s veto.<\/p>\n Brockman typically votes with Democrats on contentious issues, but not always. He voted with Republicans<\/a> earlier this year to override Stein\u2019s veto of Senate Bill 254, which Stein had criticized for weakening oversight of charter schools.<\/p>\n \u00a0Brockman was among a small group of Democrats who sided with Republicans for several key pro-business votes during the 2023 session. Those included new laws to roll back environmental protections for wetlands, ban new energy efficiency rules for home construction and allow consumer lending companies to charge higher fees and interest rates.<\/p>\n Those votes prompted a primary challenge against Brockman in last year\u2019s election. He defeated Democratic challenger James Adams by 85 votes, or less than a percentage point. Brockman’s victory came despite opposition from progressive groups, and after a conservative political group tied to business interests and former Republican House Speaker Tim Moore spent heavily to help Brockman’s reelection campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n Brockman went on to easily win the general election in his heavily Democratic district and secure a sixth term in the House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Democratic North Carolina legislator accused of sexual offenses with a minor is now facing mounting calls for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3071,2143,121029,121028,3,74939,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-212586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-crime","tag-general-assembly","tag-n-c-democratic-party","tag-nccapitol","tag-news","tag-sex-crimes","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}