Nick Ochsner
Chief Investigative Reporter
Charlotte, NC
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A WBTV investigation has uncovered illegal forms being used in Cabarrus County to remove children from their parents' custody and place them in the homes of other adults. A retired judge-turned-state lawmaker calls the forms astonishing. In the span of one interview, the director of Cabarrus County's department of human services confirmed the forms were used before denying they were ever used.
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Charlotte’s two largest hospitals say they are seeing a spike in the number of assaults reported on staff.
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The letter written by Winston’s attorney Glenn Brock, provided new details of the back-and-forth between the school board regarding former superintendent Earnest Winston prior to his termination last month.
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Two families called WBTV to talk about their experiences with DSS after having children taken from their home without a court order. It's a practice the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has said is limited. But stories and records from these two families suggest otherwise.
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Sources: Top CMS staffer interfered in investigation into Hawthorne Academy HS sexual assault claims
LaTarzja Henry, a top staffer at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, interfered in the investigation into the handling of reported sexual assaults at Hawthorne Academy High School, sources familiar with the matter tell WBTV.
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The family of McCrae Dowless released a new statement Monday promising that more information will come out about allegations related to election fraud that has swirled for years, stemming from the 2018 election for the 9th Congressional District. Dowless died of cancer on Sunday.
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The political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, McCrae Dowless, has died after a battle with cancer, sources told WBTV.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education voted Tuesday to release internal personnel documents of Earnest Winston that the board said prompted its decision to fire him.
Board members voted publicly 7-2 to terminate Winston’s contract.
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The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education will hold a special meeting on Tuesday where it is expected to vote to fire Superintendent Earnest Winston. That vote comes after months of back-and-forth regarding Winston's future at the district, including an offer by board members to pay Winston to leave.
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WBTV Investigates: School district won’t comment on whether CMS staff face discipline.
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Authorities said the man’s roommate came forward with the information.
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The American Legion is warning veterans about a North Carolina-based company it says preys on service members. Veterans Guardian charges veterans for help submitting benefit claims to the VA, which other organizations will do for free.
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A new report from the watchdog for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Office of Inspector General, details problems with top regional VA leadership that it says led to decreased care for veterans.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has missed multiple deadlines to submit data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. The data is required to be submitted each year and includes statistics on student population, discipline and reports of incidents on school campuses, including reported rapes and sexual assaults. A district spokeswoman has not provided an explanation for why the deadline was missed.
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FBI connects man to missing women from Charlotte, N.C. and Greenville, S.C.
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What are state leaders doing each day? By law, the public has a right to know. But we found some state agencies taking much longer to producer their leader's calendar than others.
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In North Carolina, a social worker has to go to court and get a judge’s order to remove a child from their parents’ home. But a WBTV investigation has found social workers taking children from their parents' homes without a court order in Cleveland and Gaston Counties. No official in Cleveland County, Gaston County or at N.C. DHHS will answer our questions.
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Diann Weston was reassigned from her job as Hawthorne Academy HS's principal to a job that pays substantially less after a WBTV investigation found Weston suspended a student who reported a sexual assault. Despite that, school records show she's still making more than $130,000 a year. Weston's former assistant principal, who was also reassigned, is making roughly $10,000 more than the pay scale for her new job.
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A WBTV investigation has uncovered a group of people living in eastern North Carolina who obtained nearly $250,000 in state and federal aid money by submitting fraudulent applications for assistance. The head of the state office that approved the fraudulent grants dismissed the findings as insignificant compared to the amount of money the program has awarded.
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A top state senator is asking questions of N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Cody Kinsley after a WBTV investigation found an eight-year-old boy reported being sexually abused in a group foster home. DHHS officials continue their refusal to answer questions.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools has taken no concrete action in response to a report with dozens of recommendations from a task force formed to study how the district can better handle reported sexual violence.
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Attorney General Josh Stein defended a science that has sent at least four innocent men to prison in North Carolina. Stein refused to answer WBTV's questions on camera for nearly a year. But that changed in early February.
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WBTV Investigates: Records show UNC didn’t get permission until after deal was signed
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An eight year old boy reported being sexually assaulted by another child in a group foster home. A worried mother's quest to get answers has revealed a state licensing system that's hardly transparent.
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A man was assaulted and arrested while taking video of an incident involving Lincoln County sheriff’s deputies and other first responders inside a brewery. When he got his phone back, the video he'd taken was gone.
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A Mecklenburg County judge was accused, in a court filing, of domestic violence. Weeks later, the judge asked for the filed to be sealed. That request was denied but the court file was still kept from the public.
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Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will release the report and recommendations of the Title IX Task Force on Tuesday, according to a spokesman for Superintendent Earnest Winston. The report is being released the same day that two top NC Senators sent a new letter to Winston demanding he provide answers and documents surrounding the district's handling of reported sexual violence.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board will meet in closed session on Tuesday to discuss the performance of Superintendent Earnest Winston. Tuesday's special meeting comes as Winston is under fire from board leadership and lawmakers in Raleigh over his handling of reported sexual violence at CMS schools.
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WBTV Investigates: Those accused of a crime have had to wait a long time for a court date, some have even had to wait for years
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CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston is under fire and facing new questions from state lawmakers as well as the chairwoman of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School Board, according to new documents obtained by WBTV. The questions related to Winston's claims and recently-announced policy changes regarding how the district handles reported rapes and sexual assaults.
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WBTV Investigates first told you this spring about the science called “Microscopic Hair Comparison” which has been discredited with then-FBI Director Jim Comey
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He will be discussing Title IX after the task force completed its work in evaluating how the district handles reported sexual violence on campus
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WBTV Investigates: There has been a rash of staff assaults at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center resulting in corrections officers being attacked and hospitalized
Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, is currently supposed to report to federal prison on December 1.
An attorney for current and former students at Hawthorne Academy and Myers Park high schools has asked the U.S. Department of Education to open a new investigation into Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools over the district's handling of reported sexual violence. The call for a new investigation comes amidst an ongoing WBTV investigation into the school district.
McCrae Dowless, the political operative at the center of the 9th Congressional District scandal in 2018, pleaded not guilty to charges related to election fraud in Wake County court on Monday. His trial set set for late August.
This comes more than a week after WBTV first reported on a sophomore student who said she was punished after she reported she had been sexually assaulted by a male classmate
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A student at Hawthorne Academy High School said she was forced to sign a nondisclosure agreement after reporting being sexually assaulted by a classmate in 2019. Her story comes one week after WBTV first revealed a Hawthorne Academy student who was suspended after reporting a sexual assault. CMS leaders refuse to answer questions.
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Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough visited the Salisbury VA Medical Center on Friday to speak with staff, union officials and tour facilities.
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WBTV Investigates: Sophomore at Hawthorne Academy HS reported sexual assault, then was suspended by school
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WBTV Investigates: School officials said the ‘Town Hall’ was set up after students had planned to walk out of the school Wednesday morning in protest
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WBTV Investigates: Hawthorne Academy student suspended after reporting sexual assault, despite police charges
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WBTV Investigates: School administrators at Hawthorne Academy High School accused the female student of filing a false report and suspended her
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WBTV Investigates: She says son died after staff didn’t give him medication for seizure disorder
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Current and former students at Myers Park High School held a protest Thursday evening as they continue to take a stand out about the mishandling of multiple sexual assault allegations that led to the school reassigning its principal.
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‘Slap in the face’: N.C. DPI employees saw raises, elevated pay as teachers wait for salary increase
WBTV Investigates: The raises and inflated salaries at the state’s education office come as classroom teachers continue their years-long wait to see increase in pay
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Myers Park High School Principal Mark Bosco stepped down as the school’s top administrator Wednesday. He has been reassigned to an administrative role within CMS. The move comes after Bosco was suspended in early August as the district investigated Bosco's handling of reported rapes and sexual assaults at the school.
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Court cases across North Carolina are backed up, especially in criminal court. In Mecklenburg County, things are even more delayed, as judicial officials put off resuming in-person trials as other counties re-open their doors.
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WBTV Investigates: Attorney General’s Office continues review, years after promising to start