A former North Carolina judge has pled guilty to child sexual assault. Daniel Ray Green was an active member of St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Hickory where he was acolyte master and former senior warden. Green and the victim knew each other, but it has not been reported whether it was through church. Green was a past recipient of the Citizen Lawyer Award for his volunteer service and community leadership, an award conferred by the North Carolina Bar Association.
An investigation by Asheville police found that on March 30, 2019, Green met a 14-year-old boy at the Baymont Inn, a hotel on Hendersonville Road in South Asheville. The teenager and Green knew each other before the assault, according to police.
At the hotel, Green gave the teenage boy alcohol and showed him pornography. Green tried to get the teenager to perform oral sex on him, but the boy refused.
Green then assaulted the boy. Afterwards:
The boy escaped from Green after the assault. He told the former judge he needed to leave the room to get ice. Outside the room, he texted a friend and his mom, who then called the police.