Why does the Wake GOP keep having events at an accused secret peeper’s business?
The Wake County Republican Party is holding a concert fundraiser Saturday at a local farm whose owner faces a felony charge for allegedly hiding a camera in the women’s bathroom there.
The party also held its Flag Day celebration there last month, raising questions about why it keeps choosing to hold events at Lin Honeycutt’s Fieldstream Farm near Garner. Honeycutt was arrested in January and charged with one count of secret peeping, a felony.
Alan Swain, chair of the Wake County GOP, told The News & Observer on Friday that he knows about the charge but believes Honeycutt deserves his day in court before anyone passes judgment.
“Are we supposed to be the jury for someone who’s got an allegation? That’s my first question,” Swain said.
The peeping case started last winter at Honeycutt’s farm business, 20 minutes south of downtown Raleigh and the site of a popular Christmas lights display, when a woman found a hidden camera in the bathroom.
According to court records and previous reporting from The News Observer, someone had secretly tucked the camera into a heater inside the bathroom stall.
Soon after the woman reported it to the police, in late January, a Wake County grand jury accused Honeycutt of setting up that camera to film women in the bathroom “for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire and without the person’s consent.”
Honeycutt also owns the Holiday Light Store near downtown Raleigh, but police have not said they believe there were hidden cameras there.
Secret peeping case still pending
In June, the Wake County Republican Party hired Honeycutt and his farm to host their Flag Day party. And this weekend, they are asking supporters to head back out there Saturday, for a concert from popular beach music band The Embers as part of a fundraising push for the party.
Swain told The N&O that someone did contact the Wake County GOP earlier this summer, asking why they were using Honeycutt’s farm for events, but that the party felt it had done its due diligence on him.
Swain said people are innocent until proven guilty and are guaranteed due process in court. He also said he spoke with Honeycutt and came away satisfied that he had been open and honest about the accusations, and confident about his chances at trial.
“We did ask him about it and he said yes, there is an allegation, but there’s nothing to it,” Swain said.
Honeycutt’s case is still pending in Wake County Superior Court, in the early stages. He was arrested in January and was released on a $2,000 bond. The only condition put on his release was to have no contact with any alleged victims.
Honeycutt does not have prior criminal convictions. His attorney, Rusty DeMent, declined to comment to The N&O on the charge he now faces.
Do The Embers know about Lin Honeycutt’s case?
John Tomlinson, the booking manager for The Embers, said he had never heard of Fieldstream Farm before the band was hired to play there Saturday, nor did he know about the criminal charge against Honeycutt.
He said nobody from the GOP had told them about it and questioned whether the party even knew about it.
“I don’t know if they’ve even heard about it,” Tomlinson told The N&O. “I didn’t catch that article when it came out.”
Tomlinson said the band plays shows all over the place, at venues or even just at people’s houses, and couldn’t possibly research the backgrounds of people involved with every single gig.
“When we get hired we go where they tell us to go,” he said.
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