Former UNC employee facing sex charge

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.

According to an arrest warrant obtained by ABC11, 42-year-old Charles Hitlin is charged with felony second-degree exploitation of a minor for allegedly distributing a nude photo of a minor through an internet account.

He was arrested in Chatham County on the warrant sworn out by UNC Public Safety. Bond for the new charge was set at $65,000.

Hitlin was formerly employed as an IT manager at UNC Chapel Hill.

According to search warrants previously obtained by ABC11 in November, police began investigating Hitlin and his wife Amy - also a UNC employee - after getting a tip from a detective with the Morrisville Police Department who works with the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

The detective said he'd been chatting with a person online who claimed to be female and claimed she was having sex with underage boys from her neighborhood. The warrants went on to say that the person's husband liked to watch and took pictures.

Detectives got a judge's permission to search the Hitlin's UNC offices and their computers. In Charles Hitlin's office, they allegedly found a loaded 9mm pistol, which led to a felony possession of a handgun on campus charge.

Amy Hitlin, 44, has not been charged.

The Hitlins attorney Meredith Nicholson spoke with ABC11 in November

"He is not a danger to his community. He is a good and decent man who has found himself subject to the far-reaching arm of a government which persists in spying on the web communications of its citizens," she said in part.

Amy Hitlin was on administrative leave from her job.

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