A Morganton man, wanted for child sex crimes, has been taken into custody in Nashville. The Burke County Sheriff's Office issued a press release Thursday, stating that Omar Cristian Region-Vera was a suspect for sex crimes, after Deputies responded earlier this week to a report of a sexual assault. In the Thursday news release, the Sheriff's Office reported that Region-Vera had gone into hiding. According to the Morganton News Herald, Sheriff Whisenant said they contacted Metropolitan South Police in Nashville, where officers were able to make a traffic stop and arrested the suspect without incident. Burke County DSS and the Burke County Child Advocacy Center assisted the Sheriff's Office in the case.

The McDowell County Sheriff's Office is seeking a wanted couple believed to be in the county, but dodging law enforcement. 34-year-old Joshua Charles Barrier and 29-year-old Ashley Renee Johnson are wanted by the Sheriff's office on multiple counts of felony obtaining property by false pretense and misdemeanor larceny. The two are believed to be in the Old Fort area and have two children - ages 2 and 3 - with them. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Barrier and Johnson is asked the call the Sheriff's Office at 652-2237 or Crimestoppers at 652-7463.