LENOIR, N.C. -- A day care worker is arrested and accused of taking indecent liberties with a 7-year-old girl. Now, his brother is speaking out, asking neighbors to reserve their judgment, but some say it's too late.
The case is very polarizing for the neighborhood around Olde Well Road just inside the Lenoir city limits. Some neighbors don't believe the allegations, while others say they do and they're frightened for the safety of their own children.
"When I found out it was in my neighborhood I was sickened," said parent Michelle West.
West lives a few doors down from Debbie's Darlings Day Care. It looks like a quiet one-story ranch home at the beginning of a cul-de-sac. There are children's toys and playgrounds in the backyard, but no sign out front.
The 7-year-old girl alleges that the day care's co-owner, 57-year-old Larry Cole, inappropriately touched her.
"I have a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old. They know when something wrong goes on," said West.
In a statement sent to NewsChannel 36, Cole's brother John says, "My brother is absolutely innocent as professed by himself, his wife, his children, witnesses on the scene on the day in question."
He also says, "I would bet my life on his innocence. ... He has spent a lifetime building the home, business and reputation that has been swept out from under him by the unsubstantiated accusation of a 7-year-old… Please take just one moment and think what it would feel like to be accused of such a crime when you were completely innocent." Click here to read the full statement.
Some parents are still sending their children to the day care.
Court documents show the 7-year-old says Cole touched her under her clothes below the waist and that the child was still in pain hours later.
"No child deserves it. Nobody deserves it," said West.
Cole's family and friends are asking neighbors to reserve judgment until after trial.
Cole was released from jail on $5,000 bond. One condition of his release is that he not go near the property of the day care during business hours.
