Former Wilkes principal charged in sex offense case

A former Wilkes County educator and principal was arrested around 2 p.m. last Friday on sex offense charges involving a 15-year-old boy. Harry Talmadge Englebert, 54, was charged with one count of statutory rape/sex offense, one count of taking indecent liberties with a child and one count of second degree sexual offense. All of the charges are felonies.

Englebert, known as "Mr. E", has a residence on Lithia Springs Road in Moravian Falls and another residence, termed a summer residence, on Allen Road in Piney Creek.

The Allen Road residence is where the offenses allegedly occurred.

According to a report filed by Det. Ricky Lyall of the Alleghany County Sheriff's Department, Englebert was arrested at his Wilkes residence at around 2 p.m. Friday by the Wilkes County Sheriff's Department. Englebert consented to a search of both his residences, sources say.

Lyall said that the searches were held. "We seized some items pertaining to the case," Lyall said.

He declined to elaborate further on the nature of the items taken. "This case is still under investigation and we may bring more charges against him," Lyall said. He indicated that he discovered during the course of the investigation that the incidents of abuse against the 15-year-old victim may have been an ongoing occurrence.

Family members of the boy apparently reported the allegations to the Wilkes County Sheriff's Department, which referred the family members to the Alleghany County Sheriff's Department because the abuse allegedly occurred in this county.

Englebert was retired from the Wilkes County school system when the incident occurred.

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