A 55-year-old man broke into a family's home in the rural Bettie community early Sunday and tried to take a juvenile outside before the child got to safety and deputies caught him trying to drive away, according to the Carteret County Sheriff's Office. The juvenile's guardian confronted the intruder inside the home on U.S. 70, and a struggle left the guardian with a laceration that required medical treatment.
Carteret County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the property while the break-in call was still in progress and arrested suspect Leslie Paul Mason as he was getting into a truck in an attempt to leave, according to The Charlotte Observer. The sheriff's office described the incident as a dangerous and rapidly evolving situation, and investigators say Mason struck the guardian in the head with a cane during the struggle before attempting to take the juvenile outside the home. Court records cited by the Observer list Mason's home address in Davis, an unincorporated community about 11 miles east of Bettie by road.
Charges Reflect Severity of the Confrontation
The Carteret County Sheriff's Office has charged Mason with first-degree burglary, attempted kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. Under North Carolina law, breaking and entering an occupied dwelling at night with intent to commit a felony qualifies as first-degree burglary, a Class D felony that can carry an active prison term of up to 204 months, according to Gilles Law. Assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury is a Class E felony under state statute, and North Carolina courts have recognized that everyday items — including a cane — can be classified as deadly weapons depending on how they are used, per the Glover Law Firm.
Kidnapping charges in North Carolina require prosecutors to prove unlawful confinement, restraint, or removal of a person without consent for an unlawful purpose, with penalties ranging from a Class E felony for second-degree kidnapping up to a Class C felony for first-degree kidnapping, according to the Wilkie Law Group. Investigators have not reported what motivated Mason to allegedly target the juvenile, and that detail remains an open question in the case. Prosecutorial jurisdiction for any felony charges will fall to District Attorney Matthew Wareham, who took office in August 2025 to lead Prosecutorial District 4, which covers Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties.
A Rural Coastal Community on Edge
Bettie sits along U.S. Highway 70 in the stretch of eastern Carteret County known locally as Down East, between Beaufort and Harkers Island. The sheriff's office said the break-in and attempted kidnapping was an isolated incident with no ongoing threat to the public, a message aimed at reassuring residents in the tight-knit rural area roughly 155 miles southeast of downtown Raleigh by road.
The response fell to a sheriff's office still adjusting to new leadership. John R. Nyberg took office as Carteret County Sheriff in June after longtime Sheriff Asa Buck retired, having previously spent seven years overseeing the county jail and serving as chief deputy. His agency covers roughly 70,000 residents across the county with 115 full-time sworn deputies, detention officers, and civilian staff handling patrol, investigations, and detention duties countywide.
The Bettie arrest comes as property crime has been trending upward elsewhere in the county. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data compiled by OpenCrime showed property crime in Morehead City, Carteret County's largest municipality, rose 7% in 2024 to 306 total offenses, including 17 burglaries, according to a prior Hoodline report. Whether Mason had any prior connection to the family remains unclear, and no formal court date had been publicly announced as of Sunday's arrest.
