Texas man transported back to Rowan County for half-dozen sex offenses

Published 9:36 am Thursday, January 20, 2022

SALISBURY — A Texas man faces a half-dozen felony sex offenses for incidents involving a victim with whom he moved away from Rowan County.

Charles Edward Birtch, 47, was charged with one county of first-degree statutory rape, three counts of indecent liberties with children and two counts of first-degree sexual offense with a victim younger than 13. Maj. John Sifford of the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office said other crimes have been reported in Texas.

Birtch’s Rowan County sex offenses allegedly occurred from 2018 to 2020 at a house in the 900 block of Carter Loop Road in Rockwell. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office learned about the incidents from Texas Child Protective Services.

Sifford said the victim, her mother and Birtch moved from the Rockwell address to Texas some time after the sex offenses occurred. Birtch later left the mother and daughter. Sifford said the victim reported the sex offenses after Birtch left.

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office investigation produced charges in September. Birtch was entered in the National Crime Information Center’s database as a wanted person. He was arrested in December by the Erath County Sheriff’s Office in Texas.

Records show Birtch was booked into the Rowan County Detention Center on Jan. 19. He’s being held on a $75,000 bond.