HAMLET — A homeless man is accused of molesting two children and suspected of giving one of them a sexually transmitted infection.
William Kareem Short, 47, whose address is listed as “streets of Rockingham,” is alleged to have engaged in intercourse and a sexual act with one child and a” lewd a lascivious act upon the body” of another child, according to warrants taken out by the Hamlet Police Department.
Both children are under the age of 16, according to warrants.
The case was reported to police on June 14 and the reported events are said to have occurred between May 14 and June 14.
Investigators obtained a search warrant to have Short tested for chlamydia after one of the alleged victims was diagnosed with the bacterial infection.
The alleged victim was tested after complaining about irritation around the genitals, the application for the warrant states.
According to court documents, Short threatened to hurt or kill the alleged victims if anyone was told about what happened.
The application for the search warrant gives detailed statements from the alleged victims about the reported abuse.
As of Monday, investigators did not know the results of Short’s test.
He was arrested Aug. 5 and charged with two felony counts of taking indecent liberties with a child and one felony count each of statutory rape of a child by an adult and statutory sex offense with a child by an adult.
Short was booked into the Richmond County Jail under a $150,000 secured bond. He was also ordered not to have any contact with the alleged victims.
Other notes on Short’s release order stated that he was homeless and unemployed and has a history of serious assault.
He is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 20.
Online court records show Short also has pending misdemeanor charges from the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office of assault with a deadly weapon and going armed to the terror of the people.
Short was given a suspended sentence for a second-degree trespassing conviction in January, according to records with the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.
His first conviction was in 1997 for misdemeanor breaking and entering.
In 2002, Short was convicted on a misdemeanor charge of injury to real property.
Two years later, records show, Short was convicted of assault inflicting serious injury.
Records show his probation was revoked in December of that year following a conviction of malicious conduct by a prisoner. He was released from prison in July 2006.
Short then served 18 months following a 2008 conviction of second-degree arson and assault with a deadly weapon.
All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
