SALISBURY — The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Salisbury Post newspaper carrier, who is a registered sex offender, after parents and students complained he was stalking a school bus stop on Wingate Lane near N.C. 152.
Stanley Lamar Champion, 53, of 434 W. Bank St., Granite Quarry, was not allowed to be around children as part of his June 2012 sentence when he became a registered sex offender. His previous address was 404 Ludwick Ave., Salisbury.
Champion has denied the latest charge and said he was only delivering a newspaper on Wingate Lane.
Salisbury Post Circulation Director Ron Brooks said the Post’s contract with Champion, an independent contractor, has been terminated.
Champion was placed under $30,000 bond on the charge of his unauthorized presence as a sex offender at a place where children regularly assemble for educational needs, such as a bus stop.
The bond amount includes his probation violation.
Parents complained to Rowan Sheriff’s Office investigator Carl Dangerfield at a youth football game Tuesday night about seeing a man in a small blue car regularly parked near the Rockwell bus stop.
Dangerfield went by the location about 6 a.m. Thursday and parked his sheriff’s vehicle in the cul de sac facing N.C. 152.
He identified Champion’s blue Nissan Versa as it came into the cul de sac and later stopped the car as it was leaving the area.
Champion agreed to be interviewed at the Sheriff’s Office Thursday morning after he finished his paper route. In Salisbury, investigators questioned him about the complaints that he was parked and watching the bus stop several different mornings.
He also was questioned about being involved in an incident on Happy Lake Road. In that case, reports stated, a female was almost struck by Champion’s car, and when he exited to see if she were OK, he attempted to touch her.
Champion said he was just making sure the person wasn’t hurt, reports stated. Champion was cooperative and consented to a search of his cellphone.
Shive Elementary and Southeast Middle schools were along Champion’s route, but Champion said he threw newspapers into the school driveways and was not on school property.