A 63-year-old Charlotte man is facing six felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor after investigators say they traced the online sharing of child sexual abuse material back to his home on Three Vistas Court. Warren Paul Carpenter is charged with two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and four counts of third-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, according to arrest warrants and court records.
The case traces back to a tip a federal agency brought to local police in June, according to WCNC. Months earlier, in late May, a U.S. Secret Service analyst had connected to a computer on a file-sharing network and downloaded more than 700 files, some of which were identified as child sexual abuse material. In this case, the analyst downloaded files from a computer on the file-sharing network.
Subpoena Leads Agents to a Specific Address
The State Bureau of Investigation subpoenaed Google for records tied to the internet address spotted in the May download, and those records identified it as belonging to Carpenter's home in the 11900 block of Three Vistas Court, the station reports. A Homeland Security Investigations agent later connected that same address to additional file-sharing activity between Aug. 29 and Sept. 21, and a federal agency told the detective on the case that the address was still sharing files during that window. Separately, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received a report from a technology company about a file uploaded in September from an account tied to that same internet address, and the phone number on the account was linked to Carpenter in police databases.
A Superior Court judge signed a warrant to search Carpenter's home on Sept. 28, and police executed the search the following day, per the same account. Carpenter reportedly told detectives that he and his wife were the only two people living at the home. Officers seized laptops, cellphones, tablets, thumb drives, memory cards and discs, according to a court inventory, and the search affidavit states that several files of child sexual abuse material were found on Carpenter's phone, which also contained file-sharing software. Detectives said four of those files led directly to the possession charges.
What the Charges Allege
The second-degree counts allege Carpenter shared videos of children over the file-sharing network, while the third-degree counts allege he possessed videos depicting children engaged in sexual activity. The warrants describe the children shown in the material as ranging from infants to roughly 11 years old.
Under North Carolina law, second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor — which covers distributing or transmitting such material over file-sharing networks — is a Class E felony, according to the North Carolina General Assembly. Third-degree sexual exploitation, the charge tied to possession, is a Class H felony carrying up to 39 months in prison per count, and state law explicitly bars a mistake-of-age defense, per Jetton & Meredith, PLLC. A conviction on any tier of the statute also triggers mandatory registration on the state's sex offender registry, with no exception carved out for lower-degree possession counts.
Part of a Statewide Surge in Digital Tips
The pipeline that led to Carpenter's arrest — automated monitoring on file-sharing networks, corporate subpoenas, and a federal tip handed down to state and local authorities — reflects a workload that has exploded for North Carolina investigators. Reports of online child sexual exploitation statewide jumped 1,115 percent between 2019 and 2026, according to state data reported by WRAL, whose coverage examined the increase. The investigation involved state, local and federal authorities.
The federal REPORT Act, enacted in 2024, expanded what electronic service providers must report to include online enticement and child sex trafficking alongside traditional abuse material.
It remains unclear what bond, if any, has been set for Carpenter or when he is scheduled to be formally arraigned in Mecklenburg County, and whether federal charges will follow given the involvement of the Secret Service and Homeland Security Investigations in the case. The case adds to a string of recent Charlotte-area exploitation prosecutions, including a federal sentencing handed down to a 27-year-old Charlotte man earlier this month.
