Burke Co. school custodian fired, charged with child sex crimes

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Deputies in Burke County have arrested and charged a school custodian with solicitation of a child by computer and indecent liberties with a child.

Investigators said that Timothy Shelnut, 44, who was a janitor at East Burke Middle School, was arrested around noon Tuesday.

Investigators told Channel 9 that they conducted an undercover operation when they learned Shelnut was engaged in inappropriate conversations with a minor through social media.

Deputies said Shelnut traveled to a predetermined location for what he thought was a meet-up with a minor to perform sex acts. Instead, when he arrived he was taken into custody by investigators.

Parents told Channel 9 it's a reminder to be vigilant when it comes to social media and their children.

"Be careful. Watch them online. Ask them questions when they're at home. Know what they're doing," mother Jennie Frye said.

"I look through where my son's been and the Google search history so that's a good thing for parents to do," mother Carla Smith said.

School district officials told Channel 9 that as soon as they learned of the arrest they fired Shelnut. They said they do background checks on all of their employees and didn't see any red flags before hiring Shelnut.

The investigation revealed that the alleged offense did not take place on school grounds, did not take place while Shelnut was on duty and did not involve a Burke County student.

“We would like to assure parents that the employee’s second-shift schedule would have limited his interaction with students, and we understand that the suspected offense took place on the former employee’s personal time,” said Burke County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Larry Putnam. “Our pre-employment process does include a thorough background check and once employees come to work with us, we take any tips or suspicions of improper conduct very seriously and address them immediately.”

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