A Durham Public Schools teacher is facing a slate of sex-crime charges after a woman reported she was attacked by a man she met on the dating app Hinge while walking near her Pittsboro home last September. The accused, Martin Michael Charlesworth, was arrested Nov. 18, 2025, and has posted a secured bond; he has since been suspended from his district job. The case, which brings together new allegations and decades-old domestic-violence convictions in other states, has raised blunt questions about what local school districts knew and how they screen employees.
Schools’ Records and Hiring Checks
A Durham Public Schools staff page lists Charlesworth as a teacher associated with Shepard Magnet Middle School. The Wake County Public School System requires applicants to complete criminal background checks, and the district’s employee handbook states that criminal charges and records can affect employment decisions. That mix of public staff listings, formal vetting policies and tight privacy rules has fueled community concern about whether personnel files and past convictions were properly checked or disclosed.
Investigation and Evidence
As reported by The News & Observer, Charlesworth was arrested Nov. 18 and is charged with first-degree kidnapping, attempted second-degree forcible rape and multiple counts of crime against nature and second-degree forcible sex offense. The paper reports the alleged attack occurred on Sept. 22, 2025, after the woman invited a man she met on Hinge to her house; she sustained bruises and scratches and later turned over the clothes she wore that night.
Investigators say they matched a black Chevrolet pickup registered to Charlesworth on nearby Flock camera footage, collected a DNA swab in mid-October and used Wi-Fi connection data to place the woman inside the truck. A WCPSS spokesperson told the paper Charlesworth began working as a substitute in February 2018 and served as a regular teacher at South Garner High School from Aug. 1, 2021, until his resignation on Nov. 15, 2021. He posted a $75,000 secured bail bond three days after his arrest.
Past Domestic-Violence Allegations
Charlesworth’s history of domestic-violence allegations became public in 2013, when national reporting detailed how his then-wife, Carie Charlesworth, lost a teaching job after he violated a protective order by showing up at her school. ABC News documented a San Diego stalking plea and other filings. ABC’s reporting also noted earlier Alaska court records and California filings that indicated past guilty pleas and assault-related charges. Survivors’ advocates and legal experts have pointed to the 2013 episode as a case study in how past convictions can resurface years later in debates over school hiring and campus safety.
Legal Status and Next Steps
Per The News & Observer, Charlesworth remained out on bail as of late June 2026 and has a court date scheduled for August 2026. Prosecutors have so far relied on the search-warrant material in the case, and any additional filings or a trial will be the next public steps. Durham Public Schools says Charlesworth is suspended without pay while the investigation continues.
For parents and community members, the case revives familiar but wrenching questions about how schools balance personnel privacy, public safety and transparency. Upcoming hearings will test the evidence, and they are also likely to become a forum for school systems to explain their personnel decisions to a wary public.
