WILMINGTON, N.C. — A sheriff’s deputy in North Carolina is facing criminal charges after authorities say he led a group of armed people to wrong home in a search for a missing girl.
New Hanover County District Attorney Ben David said Friday that Jordan Kita, who worked in the Pender County Sheriff’s Office, will be charged with trespassing and breaking and entering.
News outlets report that Kita led an armed group of people May 3 to the home of Dameon Shepard, a senior at Laney High School in Wilmington.
The all-white group tried unsuccessfully to force its way into the home of Shepard, who is black.
Kita was looking for Lekayda Kempisty, a 15-year-old girl who was reported missing earlier that day. She was later found safe.
Kita’s group was actually looking for someone named Josiah who used to live next door in its effort to find Lekayda, according to a lawyer for Shepard’s family, who is preparing a civil lawsuit.
Shepard told news outlets that he repeatedly tried to point out to the group that they had the wrong house and that a yard sign out front explicitly congratulated “Dameon” on his high school graduation, to no avail.
David said there was believed to be some sort of familial relationship between Kita and the girl.
Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler said Kita has been fired.
A second man in Kita’s group is also facing a criminal charge for “going armed to the terror of the public.”
The Associated Press
