Community voices concern after GOP 1st Congressional District chair, previously convicted of multiple sexual crimes against children, moderates Dare GOP board of ed candidate forum
- Corinne Saunders
- 1 hour ago
- 10 min read
North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District (dark purple, right) includes over a fifth of the state’s 100 counties. The district’s elected GOP chair, Harvey West Jr., pleaded guilty to multiple counts of indecent liberties with a child, for which he previously spent time incarcerated and on the sex offender registry. (Map courtesy North Carolina General Assembly)
By Corinne Saunders
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Dare County residents have voiced concerns over the choice of the regional GOP leader—who formerly, during his time of employment as a police officer, was convicted of multiple counts of indecent liberties with a child—as the event moderator for the Dare GOP’s recent forum for board of education candidates.
Harvey Lee West, Jr., chair of North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District GOP, moderated the forum that took place on Thursday, Jan. 22, in the Town of Nags Head Board of Commissioners Room in Nags Head.
It appears that West, 55, was removed from the sex offender registry just over seven years ago, as online court records show that his filed petition and order for termination of sex offender registration was granted on Dec. 10, 2018.
State records show that West, a resident of Plymouth, was incarcerated for approximately six years beginning in May 2000, after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.
West was employed as a law enforcement officer with the Washington Police Department at the time he was charged, according to North Carolina Department of Justice records.
Neither West nor the 1st Congressional District GOP responded to Outer Banks Insider’s requests for comment for this article. The Dare GOP also did not respond by publication time.
North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District GOP’s elected chair, Harvey West Jr. (standing), moderates the Dare GOP forum for board of education candidates the evening of Thursday, Jan. 22, 2025. (Photo by Corinne Saunders)
Dare County was included in North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District before the General Assembly’s most recent redistricting in October 2025, at the behest of President Donald Trump to secure more Republican seats in Congress, put it in the 1st District. The district includes 23 counties and select neighborhoods of two more counties.
Carole Warnecki, Dare GOP first vice chair, referenced the redistricting in her introduction of West at the Jan. 22 forum.
“We got—Dare County finally got—yanked from the Third District to the First District,” Warnecki said. “So tonight the moderator is our new boss, the chairman of the First Congressional District, Mr. Harvey West.”
A social media firestorm began on Sunday, when two different Dare residents shared posts in the “OBX Locals” Facebook group about West’s past.
Amanda “Mandy” Haage Fuller shared a publicly available video recording of part of the Dare GOP board of education candidate forum, writing that having West as moderator “was an odd/unsettling choice, as pointed out by many, for a forum that would deal with school children - Mr. West is a convicted sex offender.” She gave Outer Banks Insider permission to share what she wrote.
All current Dare County commissioners, school board members and General Assembly members representing the Outer Banks in Raleigh are Republicans.
Neither Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard nor Vice Chairman Steve House returned Monday calls from Outer Banks Insider by publication time.
Dare County Schools Board of Education Chairman David Twiddy said the school board was not involved in planning the forum and he was not sure who invited West to moderate.
When asked Monday if he had any concerns over West being the moderator, Twiddy replied, “I don’t know anything what people are saying so I can’t make any comment.”
Board of Education Vice Chairman Ron Payne, who worked on the Dare GOP question selection committee for the first two forums—for sheriff and commissioner candidates—was the only sitting school board member to participate as a candidate during the forum West moderated.
When reached Monday morning, Payne said that he would call right back. As of publication time, Outer Banks Insider had not heard back from him.
Danielle “Danni” Holmes Gray posted in the local Facebook group on Sunday a series of screenshots and images, including what appeared to be a photo and listing of West from his time on the sex offender registry, what appeared to be an arrest warrant for West and an Associated Press (AP) news article from 2012 that was published in multiple places.
In the article about his resignation as an alternate GOP delegate after the Raleigh News & Observer reported his status on the sex offender registry, West maintained his innocence. He said he pleaded guilty at age 28 to avoid a longer time behind bars, according to the Aug. 3, 2012, AP article, as published in NCLawyersWeekly.com.
Not only did West moderate the school board forum for the Dare GOP, but “he’s been attending their parties and gatherings in Dare,” Holmes Gray wrote, urging the Dare GOP to “keep him out” of the county.
“I went down the rabbit hole after I saw Mandy’s post and was chagrined at what I found,” Holmes Gray told Outer Banks Insider. “It was all news to me.”
An unaffiliated voter, she said her husband is a Republican, “and he also had no idea” about West.
She and other people commented on the public Dare County Republicans’ Facebook page about West, with several requesting a public statement.
“Care to comment on Mr. West’s conviction?” Noah Howard wrote on the Dare County Republicans’ post of pictures from the forum.
“I wasn’t familiar with West until today,” Howard told Outer Banks Insider on Sunday. “I have no interest in partisan politics, but I think it would be in the best interest of the Dare County GOP to address this.”
The self-described lifelong Dare County resident added, “I think it’s wrong for the local GOP to have associated with him, if it is the same person who was convicted of those crimes, even if he was taken off the registry.”
As of Thursday evening, the Dare GOP had not made a public statement.
What available court records show
West has 13 separate case files related to sexual crimes against children in the online state court records database, with all charges filed on Aug. 25, 1999. Guilty pleas are recorded in three of those case files.
Across the 13 cases, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office charged West with multiple statutory rape charges and with multiple indecent liberties with a child charges, with five separate offense dates spanning June 1-Aug. 1, 1999.
From online court records, it appears that West pleaded guilty in Beaufort Superior Court to up to 16 counts of indecent liberties with a child.
Under North Carolina law, the “taking indecent liberties with children” charge specifies that a victim is or victims are 16 years old or younger. The charge of statutory rape, which appears at least four times among West’s original charges, relates to victims ages 15 or younger.
According to one case file, West pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent liberties with a child. Each charge lists an offense date of July 6, 1999. He was ordered to pay “restitution” of $385 to the victim/victim’s legal guardian.
Another case shows that West pleaded guilty to three counts of indecent liberties with a child, where each charge lists an offense date of July 1, 1999. No financial judgment was included.
A third case file indicates that West pleaded guilty to 10 indecent liberties with a child charges—and that four of those charges were originally filed as statutory rape. In this case file, West was ordered to pay $2,000 “to cover anticipated future medical expenses” of the victim. Four offense dates were listed across the 10 charges: June 1, July 1, July 5 and Aug. 1, 1999.
West was also ordered in that case to “obtain a substance use assessment, monitoring or treatment as directed” and to “continue with any recommended treatment” during two years of supervised probation upon his release.
He was incarcerated on May 23, 2000, and served five consecutive sentences, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction (DAC) records.
One sentence corresponded to each of the first two case docket numbers in which guilty pleas were recorded, and three sentences listed the last case docket number, DAC records show. West’s projected release and last movement date are both listed as June 27, 2006.
The case file with the 10 guilty pleas noted, “Case paid in full & terminated on 2/6/07; final discharge dated 6/16/18.”
Outer Banks Insider was unable to obtain full criminal records for West by publication time. His cases predate the state’s new eCourts system, where attachments such as arrest warrants and plea transcripts are publicly posted.
“I am unable to provide any records,” Deputy Clerk Tia R. Satchel of the Beaufort County Clerk of Court’s office said in an email response on Tuesday. “I was informed that everything public would be online.”
Follow-up questions about the physical availability of the case files, and if they could be scanned or inspected in person, were not answered by publication time.
West was employed as a police officer at the time of his crimes, North Carolina Department of Justice (DOJ) records show.
West started employment with the Washington Police Department with “probationary” certification on April 29, 1999, and “surrendered” his certification on May 22, 2000, according to the DOJ.
His only previous period of law enforcement employment was less than a year at Robersonville Police Department, from probationary certification on April 28, 1993, to becoming “separated” on Feb. 17, 1994, according to the DOJ.
Outer Banks Insider requested but was unable to obtain more detailed employment records from either northeastern North Carolina police department by publication deadline.
Area’s state senators and representatives weigh in
State Sen. Robert “Bobby” Hanig (R-Currituck) was a “grand sponsor” of the North Carolina Judicial Picnic that took place on Sept. 20, 2025, at West’s house, and was documented speaking at the event in photos shared on the N.C. First Congressional District Republican Party Facebook page.
He declined to speak to any personal event attendance with West.
“He [West] is the GOP chairman that is elected by the GOP members,” Hanig said. “It’s his [West’s] job to attend events.”
Edward “Ed” Stiles, legislative assistant to Hanig, was reelected as first vice chair last spring, again serving the region directly under West, according to information published on the 1st District GOP Facebook page.
Stiles did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Hanig confirmed over the phone that Stiles served both as first vice chair for the 1st District GOP and for the Wilson GOP. He resigned both positions last fall “so he could help me with my campaign,” Hanig said, noting that Stiles “always does things 100% above board—that’s why he resigned.”
Hanig is running for the 1st District seat in U.S. Congress.
When asked about local concerns over West’s convictions of sex crimes against children, Hanig said, “I’m not going to speak to that.”
Online, Hanig publicly expressed enthusiasm after West’s reelection last April, commenting, “Fantastic news” followed by three exclamation marks.
Sen. Norman “Norm” Sanderson (R-Pamlico), who represents eight counties including Hyde, was a speaker at the GOP district convention last year during which West was reelected to his fourth term as district chair, according to an April 13, 2025, Albemarle Observer write-up.
Sanderson indicated over the phone Monday that he didn’t have and hasn’t heard concerns over West’s past.
“I’ve always found Harvey to be an exceptional leader,” Sanderson said. “He’s always been honest and direct to the point, and he’s done a good job, I think.”
He added, “I don’t know what the circumstances were in that situation—I’ve never asked—but I know the man now, and whatever happened to him during that time, he’s not that same person.”
Sanderson said he’s never heard about West’s past being “a point of concern” at the district convention.
“Rank and file” GOP delegates from each county elect the district leaders every two years at the district convention, according to Sanderson.
The number of delegates is based on the respective county’s number of registered Republicans, and any of them can ask their county chair to be put on the list to become a delegate.
“You don’t even have to have voted in an election,” Sanderson said. “As long as you’re a registered Republican in the county that you want to represent at the Congressional District convention… you’re eligible to be a delegate.”
Rep. Edward “Ed” Goodwin (R-Chowan)—who represents about 5.5 counties, including Currituck and the northern part of Dare—held a campaign fundraiser at West’s house in Plymouth on June 22, 2024, with event tickets ranging from $75 to $2,000, according to his campaign website.
West was a volunteer on Goodwin’s unsuccessful 2012 bid for secretary of state, according to an April 17, 2024, article in AmericanJournalNews.com.
“I try not to get into somebody else’s business,” Goodwin said over the phone Monday when asked about West’s past.
“That happened a long time ago,” Goodwin said. “He served his time in and got hired, and after he got hired, he was in his family’s business.”
Goodwin said that West’s background has sparked some objections to his leadership role in the party.
“Over the years that I’ve known who he is, there’s constantly been some discussions or arguments back and forth,” he said.
Margaret Ackiss, a registered Republican in western North Carolina, on Monday night publicly posted a screenshot of a message Dare GOP allegedly sent to its members about concerns brought to its attention about the 1st District chair.
“You mean these concerns, Dare County GOP?” Ackiss wrote in her Facebook post, which also shared what appeared to be some of West’s court documents and sex offender registry listing. “The same concerns I raised when he ran for District Chair and people attacked me and threatened to kill me?”
Ackiss did not respond to Outer Banks Insider’s request for comment by publication time.
It was immediately unclear if or when the Dare GOP sent the message to its membership.
Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), who represents about 3.5 counties, including Hyde and the southern part of Dare, did not return Outer Banks Insider’s Monday call by publication time.
Kidwell and many state GOP elected officials and candidates have been publicly documented at events at West’s house over the years, such as a 2024 North Carolina Council of State Oyster Roast, with the North Carolina’s secretary of state, commissioner of labor and commissioner of insurance listed as confirmed attendees.
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