Tecory A. Hester
A Henderson man who has spent most of his adult life in prison for a sex crime was arrested Tuesday on six sex-related charges and a firearms violation.
Tecory Andrew Hester, 25, of 313 Main St. is charged with five counts of statutory rape, taking liberties with a minor and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Henderson police Detective K.M. Riddick made the arrest after an investigation that began May 31.
Hester is accused of having sex with a 14-year-old who, like Hester, lives in North Henderson. The teen’s mother sparked the investigation when she filed a complaint.
Hester is one of 71 registered sex offenders in Vance County, based on the ZIP codes of their residences. Most of them live in Henderson. Hester’s registration listed an apartment on Julian Smith Road outside the city, not the Main Street residence.
Hester was released from Central Prison in Raleigh on Aug. 2, almost six years after he began serving his sentence Aug. 18, 1998, on a conviction for attempted second-degree rape in Vance County. He received a term of between five years and nine months and seven years and eight months for the attempted-rape charge and remains on post-release parole.
That crime occurred Dec. 8, 1997, according to Department of Correction records.
Four months earlier, exactly a year before he was convicted of attempted rape, Hester was convicted in Vance County of felony breaking and entering for an incident April 22, 1997. Age 17 at the time, he spent two weeks behind bars and was placed on probation.
Department of Correction information available online doesn’t list any other crimes but report that Hester has 30 infractions on his record.
Hester was jailed this week in lieu of a secured $500,000 bond and is due in court July 13.