By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
An 82-year-old-man charged last year with taking indecent liberties with a child will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Aubrey Neal “Pop” Grimes pleaded guilty Monday to 11 counts of first-degree sex offense of a child and 17 counts of indecent liberties with a child.
He received the maximum sentence of 24 years to 29 years in prison.
Authorities say there are five known victims of Grimes, all under the age of 13 at the time of the incidents. One victim, now an adult, came forward in November. That man told authorities Grimes assaulted him in the early 1990s.
None of the victims or their parents appeared in court, nor were their statements read in court.
Rowan County District Attorney Bill Kenerly did not name the victims in court, referring to them as Child A, Child B and so on.
None of the victims was threatened with physical harm, Kenerly said.
“What went on was more subtle,” he said.
He said the incidents involved improper touching and Grimes performing oral sex on the victims.
All the assaults took place at Grimes’ residence at 1040 Ashford Circle in the Shady Circle Trailer Park or in an outbuilding behind the home.
The crimes against Child A, who is now 9 years old, occurred June 1, 2007 through August 31, 2007, before the boy was in second grade.
Child B was 8 when first assaulted by Grimes sometime in 2006. The child was also assaulted July 31, 2008 through October 31, 2008. That victim is now 10.
Child C was 9 when first assaulted and is now 12 years old. The incidents occurred in 2006, during the first six months of 2007 and July 31, 2008.
Child D is now 12 and was 11 years old at the time of the assaults, which occurred sometime in 2007.
Child E, who is now an adult, was younger than 13 when Grimes assaulted him January 1, 1992 through December 1995. Kenerly said had this case gone to trial, the adult victim would’ve testified about the abuse he suffered.
The incidents came to the attention of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 7, 2008, when a parent filed a report.
Grimes initially was charged with two counts of first-degree sex offense with a child and one count of taking indecent liberties with a child. He soon admitted to abusing multiple victims over the past 10 years.
“He admitted to all of the violations. He couldn’t give specific dates, but it is a general admission,” Kenerly said.
Investigators believe, however, that Grimes may have victimized other children even longer ago.
In 1987, Grimes was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child in Guilford County, where he lived at the time. Officials have said the reason Grimes was not on the sex offender registry is because the North Carolina registry was not in use until July 1996.
Grimes’ attorney, Tom Brooke of China Grove, said his client had nothing to say in court Monday. But in their conversations, Brooke said, Grimes had indicated he wanted to “get it over with.”
Brooke said Grimes, who has been in the Rowan County Detention Center since his arrest in November, told him that not many people in his family lived beyond the age of 85 and he didn’t expect to live that long either.
Statistically speaking, Grimes could live to 102, but Kenerly said he believes that’s unlikely.
During Monday’s hearing, Grimes stood slowly, a cane in his right hand, to tell the judge he takes medication for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a kidney infection.
After the hearing, Kenerly said it is “always tough with elderly people with medical care, and they aren’t physically mobile.”
However, he said, his job is to protect the community and, given the numerous victims, his goal was to give Grimes as much prison time as possible.
“He was in that same condition when he was molesting kids last summer and he didn’t stop,” Kenerly said.
Grimes worked for the Guilford County Parks and Recreation Department. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1943 through 1945 and received an honorable discharge.
He’s been involved in youth programs in Guilford and Rowan counties and is now retired.
In November, Rowan County Sheriff George Wilhelm said none of the charges stem from Grimes’ involvement with the East Rowan Little League. Grimes was a volunteer with the organization, serving as a scorekeeper and scoreboard operator.
A concession stand at the East Rowan ballfield in Faith was named after Grimes. Shortly after his arrest, a placard with his name on it was removed from the stand.