Former Governor and current North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper’s mass prison release scheme released violent sexual predators and child rapists from prison in 2021 – and nearly half have reoffended since then.
The infamous prison release deal Cooper signed was unique in that it was the only one across the country in which a sitting governor agreed to a quota and didn’t put up a fight against left-wing groups.
He released 34 rapists, 51 criminals convicted of indecent liberties with a child, and five criminals arrested for a sexual offense by a substitute parent or custodian, in addition to 51 inmates serving life sentences.
In each of the cases below, the criminals were identified as releases tied to the deal:
Joseph Iannarone
-
Joseph Lannarone was released from prison in June 2021 after being arrested for sexual exploitation of a child and DWI. In July 2024, after being released by Roy Cooper, Iannarone was arrested again for 2nd degree exploitation of a minor for distribution of child porn in Randolph County.
Jason Cuthbertson
-
Jason Cuthbertson was released from prison in March 2021 after serving time for parole violations, and after being arrested multiple times over the past decade for assault on a female, indecent liberty with a child, hit and run, and DWI. In June 2021, just months after being released by Roy Cooper, Cuthbertson was arrested for yet another child porn charge. This time he was arrested and charged with second degree sexual exploitation of a minor and third degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Law enforcement also seized his stash of multiple images of child pornography.
Jimmie Speight
-
Jimmie Speight was in prison for numerous serious charges, including breaking and entering, burglary, and 3 counts of indecent liberties with a minor. In 2015, a 21-year-old Speight was arrested for a statutory rape offense with a minor involving a victim who was more than six years younger than he when he allegedly raped a 14-year-old girl he met on social media. One month after Cooper released him from prison in March 2021, Speight allegedly shot into the car of Edmond Moore Jr. while driving in Greenville. Moore was killed instantly and his vehicle crashed and ejected him onto the street.
Jerry Tuttle
-
Jerry Tuttle was released early from prison by Roy Cooper on April 28, 2021. Tuttle had a litany of criminal charges dating back 20 years. In November 2017, Tuttle was arrested for indecent liberties with a child. Tuttle was a friend of the victim’s family. He went on to allegedly sexually assault a 7-year-old boy in his home. He has repeatedly been arrested for parole violations since he was released.
Arthur Wilson
-
Arthur Wilson was released by Roy Cooper in June 2021, while serving a life sentence for first degree rape. He was accused of entering through the bedroom window of a woman he knew on the night of April 24, 1982, and holding a knife to her head while he raped her. Wilson was convicted in May 1983 of first-degree rape, felony, and felony larceny and sentenced to life in prison. Roy Cooper released him back into Randolph County, and he was arrested with a Level 4 DWI.
Christopher Ballentine
-
Christopher Ballentine was released from prison early by Roy Cooper in June 2021 while serving a sentence for indecent liberties with a child. Ballentine had been convicted of indecent liberties with a 12 year old girl in 2016. Ballentine had lured his 12-year-old neighbor over to his house where he gave her three beers to make her drunk, showed her pornography, and took the victim upstairs, made her perform sexual acts on him, and raped her.
Shannone McClintick
-
Shannone McClintick was released from prison early by Roy Cooper in February 2021 while serving a life sentence for first-degree rape. He violently sexually assaulted an 18-year-old woman who was reading in her bedroom in her family’s home. Armed with a knife, McClintick restrained the woman, tying her hands and feet and covering her eyes and mouth before sexually assaulting her. He fled the scene and threatened to murder her if she told the authorities. After she went to the police, McClintick was convicted of first-degree rape in February of 1984.
Senate candidate Cooper told CNN’s Manu Raju on Sunday, September 13, “This is something that the state had to do, because the court ordered it. And, I think a lot of people believe, if you ask the plaintiffs, they were very frustrated that more weren’t released.”
Yet the only reason the court ordered the releases was because Cooper himself had agreed to the deal.
Republican Michael Whatley’s campaign spokesman DJ Griffin told Breitbart News:
Roy Cooper has a dangerous history of releasing rapists, child molesters, and predators from prison early. These heinous criminals should never have been released early from prison, and allowed in many cases to continue committing crimes on unsuspecting North Carolinians. His release of these dangerous predators would be disqualifying for someone running for dogcatcher, let alone the U.S. Senate.
Cooper faces a tightening race with Whatley in the closely watched contest for U.S. Senate. Cooper told Raju the race will end up being in the 1- to 3-point range. Polls from East Carolina University and Trafalgar Group in the past few days confirm the gap from the current RealClearPolitics polling average narrowing, likely a function of increased name recognition for Whatley against a candidate in Cooper who has been in elective office since 1987.
Read the full article here