Ex-NC police officer charged with sex crimes involving minor in York County

A former police officer in Cornelius, N.C., was charged in South Carolina late Tuesday with alleged sex crimes involving a minor from 2020 to 2022 when the officer lived in Fort Mill, according to the York County Sheriff and jail records.

Erickson Douglas Lee, 25, was booked into the York County jail Tuesday night around 9:30 p.m. on four charges from the York County Sheriff’s Office, according to a written statement from the sheriff’s office and online records from the sheriff’s office jail Web site.

Lee formerly was an officer with the Cornelius, N.C. police, the Cornelius department told the Charlotte Observer in a statement on April 29. Cornelius is a town in northern Mecklenburg County near Lake Norman.

Lee is accused of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor under age 16, third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first-degree assault and battery, and disseminating obscene materials to a person under age 18, according to the statement from the sheriff’s office and jail records.

According to sheriff’s office arrest warrants obtained by The Herald, Lee allegedly had illegal contact with a minor more than 30 times between December 2020 and June 2022 at Lee’s home in South Carolina.

Lee also allegedly enaged in a sexual battery against the victim, played a pornographic video in front of the minor, and improperly touched the minor, the warrants allege.

Two of the warrants, for assualt and battery and disseminating obscene material, describe Lee as the “youth leader” for the minor at the time of the incidents.

Lee was an officer with the Cornelius, N.C. police department, according to the York sheriff statement.

In the statement, the sheriff’s office stated Lee lived in Fort Mill in York County when the alleged incidents happened.

“The alleged incidents took place in Lee’s home in Fort Mill,” the statement said.

Fort Mill is south of Charlotte in South Carolina.

Jail records in York County Wednesday showed Lee’s current address as Charlotte.

Officer resigned Friday, Cornelius police say

Lee resigned from the Cornelius police on April 28, the same day he was taken into custody by North Carolina police on a a fugitive/extradition warrant on the York County charges, according to a statement from Cornelius police.

Lee was released from custody in North Carolina before he turned himself in Tuesday, the York County sheriff’s office statement said.

SC charges

The charges against Lee carry potential sentences of three to 20 years in prison, South Carolina law shows.

A conviction for second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a child carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison, state law shows. The third-degree charge carries a potential sentence of 15 years, according to state law.

The dissemination charge carries up to five years and the assault and battery charge carries as much as three years, state law shows.

No other information about the allegations has been released.

In a statement after Lee was taken into custody in North Carolina, Cornelius police officials said they hold their officers “to the highest professional standards both on and off duty. Any officer who does not conform to these standards will be held accountable when they fail to meet those standards.”

Lee has not yet had a first court appearance in York County in front of a magistrate judge where bail could potentially be set.

It is unclear if Lee has a lawyer.

Check back for updates on this story.