KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. (WJZY) – A North Carolina man accused of keeping a child as a sex slave since 2015 made his first court appearance on Monday.
Anthony Nealy, 31, of Kings Mountain, was arrested on Oct. 9 and charged with keeping a girl under the age of 12 in sexual servitude since 2015, according to arrest warrants obtained by The Shelby Star.
According to court documents, the alleged abuse began in January of 2015 and went on until September of this year.
A neighbor close with the family told WJZY the abuse was investigated when the child told a school counselor.
Nealy lives in a neighborhood down the road from the Kings Mountain Police Department. Several neighbors told WJZY they had no clue about the alleged horrific crimes happening just down the street.
“We’d see them walk up and down the road to go to school and that’s about it. They’ve got toys outside and everything in the backyard. They’ve got bikes and all kinds of stuff out there but you don’t never see them come outside any day of the week,” said a neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Nealy is currently in the Cleveland County jail on a $500,000 bond. He is charged with sexual servitude with a child victim, child abuse including a sexual act, rape of a child by an adult, statutory sex offense with child by an adult and human trafficking with a child victim.
