A Morganton man is charged with Indecent Liberties. According to a press release from the Burke County Sheriff's Office, on Tuesday, a 6 year old victim disclosed at the Child Advocacy Center Gingerbread House that a Registered Sex Offender 32-year-old Mark David Smith, Jr. had engaged in inappropriate sexualized behaviors. Investigators with the Sheriff's Office in conjuction with the Department of Social Services Child Protective Services were able to substantiate the allegations. Smith was taken into custody without incident and placed at the Burke Catawba District Confinement Facility under a $25,000 secured bond.

A man with an outstanding warrant for robbery was charged with another robbery early Wednesday morning. About 3:30am, officers with the Hickory Police Department responded to a call from the Circle K Convenience Store at 2853 North Center Street in reference to a robbery. The reported suspect displayed a knife and demanded money. After taking the money from the register, the suspect fled the scene. Officers located a suspect matching the description given from the store clerk behind Belle Hollow shopping complex, also on North Center Street. The suspect was identified as Christopher Bennit Robinson. He had an outstanding warrant for the robbery of the Holiday Inn Express on Highway 70 that occurred in early December. Robinson was charged with two counts of Robbery with Firearms or Other Dangerous Weapons and one count of Parole Violation and is being held under a $300,000 bond.

Three Marion residents are charged with breaking into a Fairview Road house. The McDowell County Sheriff's Office reported the charge Wednesday, on 31-year Sarah Courtney Blake, 41-year old Jimmy Lee Cool and 32-year-old Wayne Joseph Soeder. According to the Sheriff's Office, on January 10th, Deputy Jessie Hicks responded to a report of a breaking and entering at a residence on Fairview Road, a residence from which Cool was evicted earlier in the day. The deputy arrived to find that the three suspects had entered the house through a window.