Willow Spring man makes first court appearance on child sex charges

Tommy Keith Wall, 50, was arrested Tuesday on charges of first-degree rape of a child, first-degree sex offense against a child and felony conspiracy in connection with an alleged child pornography operation involving four other people also facing charges in the case.

In court documents, investigators say the alleged leader of the setup, Bailey Joe Mills, used his home near Sanford to run an unlicensed daycare and mentoring program and lured children to the home.

Mills faces more than a dozen charges, including five counts each of statutory rape and statutory sexual offense, three counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count each of first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and first-degree rape of a child.

Court records show he was also convicted in Wake County in 1997 and 2000 of charges of indecent liberties with a child and was on the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry until 2011, when a judge granted his petition to be removed from the database.

The judge’s findings included that he was not a threat to public safety and that he had been on the registry for 10 years and had not been arrested or convicted of any other offenses.

State law allows a convicted sex offender to petition the Superior Court to terminate a registration requirement.