A former sheriff’s deputy previously convicted of soliciting prostitution in Brunswick County was arrested Monday in New Hanover County.
Timothy Paul Caulder, 37, was arrested Monday, charged with juror harassment. He turned himself in to the New Hanover County jail at 1:10 p.m. Monday, according to New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office Spokesman Sgt. Jerry Brewer.
Caulder is accused of harassing a 34-year-old female juror from Leland on Dec. 24 in Wilmington. According to his arrest warrant, Caulder allegedly located the woman, who was a juror in his October appeals trial, at her place of work and “harassed her about his conviction.”
Caulder, a former Brunswick County sheriff’s deputy and 17-year law enforcement veteran, was convicted of two counts of soliciting prostitution and two counts of soliciting crimes against nature in Brunswick County District Court in June.
He appealed to the case to superior court, where a jury convicted him of two counts of soliciting prostitution and one count of soliciting crimes against nature in October. He was acquitted of one count of soliciting crimes against nature.
Read related story: Former sheriff’s deputy guilty of soliciting prostitution in appeals trial
Superior Court Judge Gale Adams sentenced Caulder to 45 days in the N.C. Department of Corrections, which was suspended. He will be under unsupervised probation for 18 months, Adams ordered.
A 32-year-old woman accused Caulder of soliciting sex acts during a traffic stop on Aug. 11, 2013. A second interaction with the female was arranged by internal affairs investigators in a fake traffic stop and arrest on Aug. 23, 2013. The woman said detectives placed heroin in the vehicle and marijuana in her purse so that agents could make a fake arrest on drug charges, according to court testimony.
During the investigation, detectives “told me to engage him,” she said. “And go full blown about what we were going to do, how we were going to do it–everything.” The woman testified that she was arrested and placed in the back of Caulder’s patrol vehicle, where he said something “in a sexual way.”
In a recording played during the appeals trial, the two had a conversation about sex, a price and time for the meeting, which was scheduled after Caulder was to get off duty at 7 p.m. at the Shallotte Home Depot. Caulder asked for a discount, then a meeting for free since the two had missed the first connection after an arrangement on Aug. 11.
Geoffrey Hosford, Caulder’s defense attorney, argued that Caulder was only being prosecuted because he was a deputy at the time, and questioned the credibility of the witness.
Caulder, who was hired by the sheriff’s office in December 2011, was arrested in August 2013 after a two-week internal investigation by the sheriff’s office of professional standards, Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Emily Flax said. He was terminated following his arrest.
“We, as law enforcement officers, are not above the law,” Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram said. “We will not tolerate anyone from this agency who abuses their position.”
Caulder was released from the New Hanover County Detention Center on Monday on a $10,000 bond.
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