Man’s bond reduced to $10K on 1990s child sex offenses | #childsafety | #kids | #chldern | #parents | #schoolsafey

Rodney Shawn Lane, 50, of Morganton, was charged Monday with two felony first-degree sex offenses with a child, according to charging documents filed at the Burke County Courthouse.

Lane originally was issued a $200,000 secured bond in the case, but his attorney, Chris Back, filed a motion to have the bond reduced. Assistant District Attorney Mitch Walker said he did not agree to the bond modification.

Judge David W. Aycock approved the bond reduction on the grounds the defendant has no previous criminal record and isn’t a flight risk, according to a copy of the order filed in the case. The order also said the victim in the case lives out of state, the alleged offenses were 25 years ago and the modification would be in line with Class B1 felony bond guidelines.

Lane originally was set to be in court Thursday for his first appearance, but that appearance instead was moved to Wednesday.

Walker said most first appearances will happen on the day a magistrate originally set as the appearance, but sometimes defense attorneys will approach prosecutors asking to move the appearance up. He said he had agreed to the earlier first appearance, and said the sooner the first appearance happens, the sooner the case can get moving.

The charges against Lane were issued Monday, but stem from offenses that allegedly occurred in the late 1990s.

The Morganton Department of Public Safety said Tuesday it spent 17 months investigating the case, a process that led them to three different states and saw more than a dozen interviews conducted.

A news release from the department said their efforts identified two victims who both alleged sexual abuse by Lane on multiple occasions from 1998 to 2001.

The News Herald asked Back for a comment on the charges against Lane multiple times, but he declined to make comment each time.

Lane is set to appear in court again Aug. 14.