The Wilmington TV station broadcast an eight-minute story featuring excerpts from an interview with “Jay,” a 47-year-old man alleging that state Sen. R.C. Soles, D-Tabor City, sexually assaulted him when Jay was 13 years old.
The interview was conducted before Jay spoke with Carolina Journal’s Don Carrington. CJ’s story is here. In both stories, Jay said the sexual encounters continued, at Soles’ insistence, for several months until Jay left Tabor City. Jay also said he decided to come forward now because he heard media reports that Soles, now age 74, had become increasingly violent with the young men (many of whom are current or former legal clients) he encountered.
Soles’ lawyer, Raleigh attorney Joe Cheshire, told WWAY he believes in Soles and that he believes Jay sought to extort money from the senator. (Jay denied that motivation in both stories and has not publicly identified himself.) Cheshire also attributed the stories to “political enemies” of the senator.
