Local News

Durham County man, woman face child sex exploitation charges

A Durham County man and woman were arrested Thursday and charged with sexual offenses against a child. The charges stem from sexually explicit photos that were taken of a girl, believed to be 3 or 4, according to arrest warrants.

Posted Updated
John Herbert Adams and Brandy Nicole Barnett
DURHAM, N.C. — A Durham County man and woman were arrested Thursday and charged with sexual offenses against a child. The charges stem from sexually explicit photos that were taken of a girl, believed to be 3 or 4, according to arrest warrants.

John Herbert Adams, 50, of 44 Blazing Star Lane in Bahama, was charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, indecent liberties of a child and contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile. He was released on bond.

Brandy Nicole Barnett, 30, of 700 Morreene Road in Durham, was charged with felony child abuse – sexual act, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, second-degree exploitation of a minor and indecent liberties with a child.

A Durham County sheriff's office spokesman said he couldn't comment on the relationship between Adams and Barnett.

Warrants state that nude photos of the girl in explicit poses were taken sometime between January 2010 and last week.

Adams was a Bahama Boy Scout leader. Jon Akerman, a spokesman for Boy Scouts of America, says the organization removed Adams after hearing of his arrest early Monday.

"I am comfortable that the scouting program has many barriers in place to protect the young people in the troop. All the barriers were in place to keep this from being a scouting issue," Akerman said. "All of our adult volunteers who register with the program are run through a national database ... It goes through a national system that goes through a criminal background check. We’ve been doing that for about 15 years with all volunteers. There was no background we found on this gentleman."

 Credits 

Copyright 2024 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.