Daily Wire: Photo Shows Roy Cooper Beside Convicted Child Molester Chad Turner at 2018 Charlotte Event

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, appeared in photographs alongside a man convicted of molesting a teenage boy, according to a report Friday from The Daily Wire. The photos, taken at a December 2018 event hosted by the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce, show Cooper standing next to Chad Turner, who was convicted in 2000 of committing a lewd act on a child under 16.

The Daily Wire reported that Turner pleaded guilty to fondling a 15-year-old boy while working as a music minister at a South Carolina church. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but released after two years. Turner is still listed on the state’s sex offender registry, the outlet said. A second photo from the same event, posted to Facebook and saved by North State Journal reporter AP Dillon, reportedly shows Turner smiling behind Cooper as the governor spoke to the crowd.

The 1998 Allegations and 2000 Conviction

Turner’s criminal history dates back to 1998, when three teenage boys accused the then-20-year-old of sexual abuse while he worked at New Harvest Church of God in Gaffney, South Carolina. According to reporting cited by The Daily Wire, one 14-year-old victim said he woke up to Turner fondling him during an overnight stay. Another 15-year-old said Turner showed him pornography and molested him at his home. A third 15-year-old described similar abuse during a stay of several weeks.

Turner ultimately faced one count of committing a lewd act on a child under 16. He was sentenced in July 2000 and released after serving just two years of the 10-year term.

An Event Focused on the ‘Bathroom Bill’ Repeal

The 2018 chamber of commerce event where the photos were taken was tied to the repeal of House Bill 2, the controversial law governing bathroom access that had drawn national backlash. Cooper, then governor, spoke at the event in support of the repeal.

“The [bathroom bill] repeal was an important first step in fighting discrimination and making sure the nation knows that North Carolina is open for business,” Cooper said at the time, according to the Daily Wire report. Cooper had signed the repeal into law and previously called the original bill “mean-spirited” and “a stain” on the state’s reputation.

Turner, who according to the report also opposed the bathroom law, had been a leader in the same LGBT chamber. Just two years before the event, in 2016, he stepped down as president of the Charlotte LGBT Chamber of Commerce after his criminal history became public. He stayed on as an advisor and later returned to leadership. He now runs the Carolinas LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce, the outlet reported.

Cooper Campaign Responds by Turning to Whatley

Asked about the appearance, a spokesman for Cooper’s Senate campaign did not address the photos directly. Instead, the spokesman accused Republican opponent Michael Whatley of his own associations with sex offenders.

“While Roy spent his career putting rapists and violent criminals behind bars and signing tough on crime laws as governor, Michael Whatley has continued to knowingly appoint, campaign with and elevate convicted child sex predators who spent time in prison,” the Cooper campaign spokesman told The Daily Wire.

Cooper, who is running to replace outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis, has previously attacked Whatley over Harvey Lee West, a sex offender who held a leadership post in the state Republican Party while Whatley led it. Local fact-checkers have largely dismissed that attack as frivolous, noting West was first appointed before Whatley took his position. West himself has said the two men were at odds, telling fact-checkers, “Whatley did not like me.” West once backed a Whatley opponent for state GOP chair.

Whatley’s campaign pushed back by pointing to Cooper’s record on crime, specifically a COVID-era prison release deal Cooper approved as governor. According to the Whatley campaign, that deal released 232 rapists, sex offenders, child predators, and molesters; 99 of them, the campaign said, were rearrested on charges including rape, sexual assault, and child pornography.

“There is only one person in this race who released rapists, pedophiles, and child molesters from prison to go on to terrorize North Carolinians: Roy Cooper,” said DJ Griffin, a spokesman for Whatley. “Roy Cooper failed at his most basic job to protect our kids and keep North Carolinians safe.”

Turner’s Broader Ties to North Carolina Democrats

The photos are the latest in a series of connections between Turner and North Carolina Democratic figures that The Daily Wire has reported over the past two years. In 2024, the outlet reported that Jeff Jackson, then a Democratic candidate for attorney general, embraced a registered sex offender during an awards ceremony — an apparent reference to Turner. That event footage, obtained by The Daily Wire in October 2024, showed Turner presenting Jackson with an award for “advancing equity” and hugging him. Jackson went on to defeat Republican Dan Bishop in November 2024 and is now North Carolina’s attorney general.

In 2023, Charlotte Pride selected Turner for a Harvey Milk Award for LGBT activism. The organization described him as a “highly accomplished leader in human resources” whose career had been “driven by a deep commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).” After backlash over honoring a convicted child sex offender, Charlotte Pride removed Turner’s name from its website.

Republicans have also sought to tie Cooper’s gubernatorial record to cultural flashpoints, highlighting his vetoes of legislation restricting transgender procedures for minors and barring biological males from girls’ sports teams. Cooper’s Senate race against Whatley is expected to be one of the most closely watched contests in the country as Republicans defend a narrow Senate majority.

Turner did not respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire.

Source: www.dailywire.com — https://www.dailywire.com/news/is-every-north-carolina-democrat-linked-to-the-same-child-molester