A couple blames a faulty gun safe for the death of their 12-year-old son. Now they're trying to make sure the tragedy they're going through doesn't happen to anyone else.

Family claims gun safe was defective in seeking justice for 12-year-old son who shot himself

Carson Preston

The annual WRAL Tower Lighting is scheduled for Nov. 29, 2023. Tune in to WRAL-TV at 7 p.m. to for a live, half-hour special of music and holiday cheer as we count down to when towers in Raleigh, Durham and Rocky Mount get their holiday glow.

WRAL to light towers in Raleigh, Durham and Rocky Mount on Wednesday at 7p

WRAL-TV held its 64th annual tower lighting on Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2022.

All assets associated with the tag: Robert Higdon

Robert Higdon Coverage

A viral tweet says "Biden forced the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina to resign after 24 people were charged with election fraud and the Mainstream Media never even batted an eyelash." The tweet cobbles some factual information together but links them under a false premise.



Fact check: Tweet wrongly ties Biden move to North Carolina 'election fraud'

U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon

Fake coronavirus treatments, price gouging, theft of stimulus checks, health care fraud and exploitation of people who are behind on their rent are among the crimes the U.S. Justice Department is seeing during the pandemic, U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon says.

BUSY. >>> WHAT KINDS OF COMPLAINTS HAVE YOU RECEIVED IN WHICH GROUPS ARE AT RISK? >> THE HELPLINE WE ARE STILL USING IS ONE THAT RECEIVES CALLS FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND THEY ARE AFFILIATED TO EACH FEDERAL DISTRICT. WE HAVE BEEN RECEIVING LOTS OF CALLS RELATED TO POTENTIAL FRAUD AND SCAMS IN OUR DISTRICT AND I CAN GROUP THEM FOR YOU. WE HAVE FRAUD AND SCAM THAT DEAL WITH CURES AND TREATMENTS FOR THE CORONAVIRUS, PRICE GOUGING AND HOARDING, TYPICAL FRAUD SCHEMES THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO GET THE THREE $3 TRILLION IN FUNDS OF STIMULUS OUT THERE RIGHT NOW. WE HAVE FRAUD RELATED TO CHECKS THAT PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO STEAL AS THEY COME IN THE MAIL, PEOPLE TRYING TO TURN OVER THE CHECK AND WANT YOU TO ADVANCE FUNDS ARE DO SOMETHING FOR YOU, TRYING TO GET CHECKS OR DEPOSITS AWAY FROM YOU BY SEEKING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION. WE HAVE CASES OF HEALTHCARE FRAUD. WE ARE MONITORING PEOPLE'S CIVIL RIGHTS AND ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS IS INDIVIDUALS WERE NOT ABLE TO PAY THEIR RENT AND LANDLORDS ARE TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THEM, PARTICULARLY LOTS OF WOMEN BEING TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF SEXUALLY FOR FORGIVENESS OF THEIR RENT SO THE DEPARTMENT IS AWARE OF THAT TYPE OF ACTIVITY . >> WHAT SHOULD YOU DO FIRST IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE BEEN TARGETED? >> THE THING YOU NEED TO DO IS CALL THE HOTLINE AND WE HAVE GIVEN THE NUMBER OF BEFORE BUT I WILL GIVE IT AGAIN THAT IS 866-720-5721. THAT IS THE NATIONAL HOTLINE WHERE YOU CAN REGISTER COMPLAINTS AND THAT INFORMATION IS IMMEDIATELY GIVEN TO THE FEDERAL DISTRICT IN WHICH YOU LIVE, IN OUR CASE, EASTERN DISTRICT AND WE SET ABOUT LOOKING INTO THAT RIGHT AWAY . >> WE KNOW THAT SCAMMERS ARE OUT THERE ALL YEAR LONG. ARE THEY ESPECIALLY OUT THERE NOW? ARE YOU SEEING AN UPTICK LOOKS >> WE ARE CERTAINLY SEEING AN UPTICK. THEY ARE ALWAYS OUT THERE BUT WHEN THE MONEY IN THE SYSTEM IS OUT THERE AND PEOPLE ARE VULNERABLE, CONCERNED AND AFRAID, THEY BECOME PROJECT FOR PEOPLE TO PERPETRATE FRAUD AGAINST. >>> TALKING ABOUT PRISONS, JUST TODAY WE SAW PEOPLE PROTESTING FOR PRISONERS TO BE RELEASED OUTSIDE OF THE CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM IN GOLDSBORO AND ALSO CONCERNED FOR SAFETY OF THOSE WORKING IN PRISONS WITH A GROWING NUMBER OF POSITIVE CASES THERE. JUST LAST WEEK YOUR OFFICE ANNOUNCED TWO INMATES WOULD BE CHARGED FOLLOWING AN INCIDENT LAST MONTH. I KNOW YOU DON'T RUN THE PRISONS BUT CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT THE CASE AND THE MESSAGE YOU HOPE IT'S BUT IT SENDS? >> THERE WAS A MINI RIOT. THERE WERE PRISONERS THAT TRIED TO TAKE OVER A PARTICULAR CELLBLOCK. FORTUNATELY NOBODY WAS SERIOUSLY HURT BUT ENFORCING ORDER IN PRISONS IS ONE THING WE DO ALL THE TIME AND WHEN WE ARE IN A MORE VULNERABLE STATE LIKE NOW, THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT TRY TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT. WHEN OUR OFFICE LEARNED OF THAT, SHORTLY AFTER IT HAPPENED, WE IMMEDIATELY WORKED WITH INVESTIGATORS TO WORK OUT THE CASE AND HAVE THE MATTER AND INDICTMENTS WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. WE ARE NOT GOING TO TOLERATE THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR. >>> THIS WEEK WE ARE HONORING OUR FRONT-LINE WORKERS WITH NURSE APPRECIATION WEEK. WE ALSO HONORED TEACHERS RECENTLY. THIS WEEK IS A BIG ONE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT. TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT. >> IT IS THE NATIONAL POLICE WEEK AND USUALLY WE HONOR THIS, OUR FALLEN OFFICERS BY VISUALS AND OTHER PUBLIC EVENTS. WE ARE NOT ABLE TO DO THAT THIS YEAR. TOMORROW NIGHT THERE WILL BE A NATIONAL VIGIL YOU CAN WATCH ONLINE BY GOING TO THE NATIONAL POLICE LEAGUE WEBSITE. WE ARE ALSO TRYING TO RECOGNIZE PARTICULARLY OUR FALLEN OFFICES ACROSS THE DISTRICT AND AS YOU MAY RECALL WE HAD AN OFFICER KILLED IN THE LETTER DUTY, A STATE TROOPER, NOLAN SANDERS AND WAYNE COUNTY IN MARCH OF THIS YEAR AND HE IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF THE SACRIFICE LAW ENFORCEMENT MAKES EVERY DAY AND PARTICULARLY DOING THAT DURING THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC OR PANDEMIC, THEY ARE WORKING JUST AS HARD AS THEY ALWAYS DO BUT THEY ARE FACING INCREASED RISK SO I THINK IT IS IMPORTANT THAT WE STOP AND TAKE A MOMENT TO RECOGNIZE THE IMPORTANT WORK WE DO ON BEHALF OF ALL OF US PARTICULARLY AT THIS TIME. >> NO DOUBT, SO IMPORTANT TO

Prosecutor: Pandemic ripe for fraud

U.S. Attorneys Office in Raleigh announces plea deal in one of the last outstanding cases from 2018 crackdown.

Foreign nationals charged with illegal voting mostly got small fines

Election Day, polling places

A group of local and national news organizations is suing North Carolina election officials for records connected with 2018 federal subpoenas that targeted hundreds of voters across the state.

Media coalition sues NC election boards for voter records linked to secretive federal probe

Voters return to District 9 polls for congressional primary

A Fayetteville couple has been charged with stealing military property, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina said Friday.

Fayetteville couple charged with stealing government money, conspiracy

WRAL News

Brandon Marquis Jennings, 29, was convicted of human trafficking and sex trafficking Thursday

Raleigh man convicted of human trafficking

After a three-month wait, state elections officials have now told a small group of counties how to identify and turn over data on hundreds of North Carolina voters targeted by federal investigators in a secretive election fraud probe.

Elections board directs counties to turn over data on hundreds of NC voters in federal probe

Voting booth

Monday, Feb. 11, 2019 -- Capitol Broadcasting's editorial cartoonist.

DRAUGHON DRAWS: It's so hard to see what's before your eyes

The State Board of Elections now says it will supply registration records for nearly 800 North Carolina voters in response to a subpoena from U.S. Attorneys, part of a secretive federal election fraud probe that cast a net across millions of voters statewide last fall.

Elections officials to hand federal investigators data on hundreds of NC voters

Voting in Raleigh

Earlier concerns about Bladen County voting irregularities made it all the way to Washington, D.C., and a top Justice Department official came to Raleigh.

NC investigator pinged feds over 2018 election concerns

9th Congressional District map

Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018 -- Gov. Roy Cooper and Atty. Gen. Josh Stein need to bring together an independent, non-partisan panel to look into why there was no action to investigate the voting irregularities in Bladen and other southeastern North Carolina counties, identify real problems with current voting procedures and recommend common sense solutions to make sure our elections are clean and fair.