Cary father of 3 faces 12 counts of child-porn charges
CARY (WTVD) -- A Cary father of three faced a judge Thursday afternoon for 12 counts of second degree sexual exploitation of a minor.
The investigation goes back to November when Cary police believe Darryl Pierce copied video files with images of little girls being forced into sexual acts, as well as being bound and gagged.
According to the arrest warrant from Wednesday, the images show children as young as 2 years old to 11 years old.
Pierce has two teenagers and his youngest child is just 9 years old.
In court on Thursday, prosecutors said investigators found as many "43 unique files of child pornography on a computer that was assigned to him".
They said Pierce's wife of 18 years was present at the time of the search and initially said the images were hers, until she realized what they were.
The judge told Pierce he faces as much as seven years for each count. The judge also turned down a request to lower Pierce's $150,000 bail and ordered Pierce to have no contact with children younger than 16 without parental consent and to not use computers or social media.
Pierce's next court date is March 31 at 9 a.m.
