Photo: Pender County Sheriff Facebook
According to apress releasefrom the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, the unidentified 24-year-old woman was able to escape and call 911 on Aug. 9, when she told authorities “that she was being held against her will.”
TheWilmington Star-News, which obtained warrants from the case, reports that Peterson, 54, allegedly held the woman and her child captive for over a month.
He allegedly used a taser on the woman multiple times, held her at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her, theStar-Newssaid.
Peterson was held in the Pender County Jail under a $20,000 bond and was released on Aug. 10 after posting bond.
According to the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was then executed at Peterson’s home. Upon further investigation, he was arrested again, this time for crimes including one count of human trafficking adult victim, one count of human trafficking child victim, one count of first-degree kidnapping and one count of sexual servitude.
He is now being held under a $2 million bond at the Pender County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, the release explained.
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“You don’t expect stuff like that to happen around here,” she said. “And then to find out it’s pretty much your neighbor, it’s very scary.”
“I think he kind of, maybe kept to himself,” she added of Peterson. “I never really saw him in and out much. You just usually hear it happening far away or across seas. Something like that. But when it happens in your hometown, you just can’t believe it.”
Neighbors told the outlet that there was a solar panel company behind Peterson’s house, so they were used to seeing people walking in and out.
source: people.com
