SALISBURY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — A sex offender is facing new charges following his release from prison, according to the Rowan County Sheriff’s Office.
On March 15, Justin Dale Edwards, 37, was booked into the Rowan County Jail after being transferred from the state prison system.
In January 2024, deputies got a report that Edwards had sexually abused a girl the year before, when she was 11 years old. The Rowan County Department of Social Services and the Terrie Hess House Child Advocacy Center partnered in the investigation.
In April 2024, warrants for Edwards’ arrest were issued for two counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult. His arrest was delayed until he got out of prison.
Edwards is being held on a $350,000 secured bond, and his next court appearance is set for March 17.
Edwards is a registered sex offender from an October 2012 conviction in Davidson County for three counts of indecent liberties with a minor. According to the sex offender registry, Edwards sexually assaulted 13 and 15-year-old children when he was in his early 20s.
According to his prison record, Edwards has been in and out of prison several times after various convictions, including contributing to the delinquency of a minor and two different occasions of being on a property he was banned from as a sex offender.
In July 2023, Edwards was convicted in Rowan County of not updating his address as a sex offender. He was imprisoned from July 2023 until his sentence officially ended when he was transferred to the Rowan County Jail on March 15, 2025.
