Sheriff Kevin H. Bean announces on Wednesday, October 30th, 2024, Investigators with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office along with the assistance of agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation and Boone Police Department executed a search warrant at the residence of Nathaniel Willard Byrd, age 36, located at 4061 Austin Road in Hudson, NC. The search warrant was obtained after The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office received an exploitation Cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The Cybertip indicated that an electronic device owned by Nathaniel Byrd was downloading material depicting child sexual exploitation over the previous months. Investigators collected numerous items from Byrd’s residence to be forensically examined for material depicting child exploitation.
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, and Boone Police Department are members of the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce Program (ICAC) which is a multi-jurisdictional coalition of Federal, State, and Local Law Enforcement that are dedicated to investigating, prosecuting, and developing effective responses to Internet Crimes against Children.
Nathaniel Willard Byrd, age 36, is currently charged with:
5 Counts of Second-Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Child
Additional Charges are expected
Byrd was placed in the Caldwell County Detention Center under a $110,000.00 Secured Bond his first appearance set for 10/31/2024 in District Court in Lenoir, NC.
