Dover Man, 72, Charged With Indecent Liberties Against Two Children Under 16

A 72-year-old Dover man is behind bars after Craven County investigators say a monthlong probe led them to charge him with taking indecent liberties with two children, both under the age of 16. Joe L. Hawkins Sr., who lives on Loftin Farm Road, was arrested Monday and now faces two felony counts tied to a report that first reached authorities in early July.

According to New Bern Live, the Craven County Sheriff's Office received a report on July 7 involving indecent liberties with multiple minors. The Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Bureau spent about a month working the case before identifying Hawkins as the suspect and taking him into custody. He was booked on two felony counts of indecent liberties with a child and is being held at the Craven County Confinement Facility.

What the Charges Mean Under State Law

Both counts fall under North Carolina General Statute § 14-202.1, which classifies taking indecent liberties with a child as a Class F felony whenever a defendant is at least 16 years old and at least five years older than a victim under 16, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. A Class F felony conviction can bring 10 to 59 months in state prison depending on a defendant's criminal history, along with mandatory sex offender registration lasting at least 30 years, per the Patrick Roberts Law Blog. That same legal analysis notes that North Carolina appellate courts have found physical contact is not required to sustain a conviction under the statute, since explicit verbal statements, exposure, or other non-contact behavior can also meet the legal definition.

Why prosecutors pursued two separate counts rather than one also traces back to recent case law. The North Carolina Criminal Law Blog reports that the state Supreme Court's December 2025 ruling in State v. Calderon established a “distinct interruption test” for determining when separate acts during an encounter can support multiple indecent liberties counts, giving prosecutors statewide clearer guidance for multi-count indictments in cases like this one.

Local Investigators and Prosecutors Involved

The case was handled in consultation with the office of District Attorney Matthew Wareham, who leads Prosecutorial District 4 covering Craven, Carteret, and Pamlico counties. Wareham, who took office in August 2025 succeeding longtime District Attorney Scott Thomas, oversees the office that will ultimately decide how the case proceeds through court, according to WCTI News 12. The Craven County Sheriff's Office itself has been led by Sheriff Chip Hughes since December 2018, according to Ballotpedia, and his Criminal Investigation Bureau conducted the month-long investigation that led to Hawkins' arrest.

Dover, where Hawkins lives, is a small, sparsely populated agricultural town in western Craven County west of New Bern, with a population of just 349 recorded in the 2020 U.S. Census, per the U.S. Census Bureau.

Part of a Busy Summer for Local Child Sex-Crime Cases

Hawkins' arrest adds to a string of child sex-crime investigations the Craven County Sheriff's Office has pursued this summer. In late June, the office's Internet Crimes Against Children unit arrested 19-year-old Robert Cothren Jr. of New Bern on felony indecent liberties and sexual extortion charges involving a 13-year-old victim, as Hoodline previously reported. Then in July, a joint investigation with Carteret County led to the arrest of 53-year-old Francisco Nava Mendoza on charges including statutory rape and indecent liberties, after he allegedly fled before being captured in Wayne County.

Several questions remain open in Hawkins' case, including whether investigators believe additional victims may come forward, the specific nature of the alleged conduct, and what bond conditions, if any, will be set at his initial court appearance. Those details had not been released as of Monday.