THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 30, 1996 TAG: 9607300306
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 37 lines
Hiram Gallop, 83, who was defeated in the June primary election as a Republican candidate for the Dare County Board of Commissioners, pleaded not guilty Monday to nine felony sexual offenses against two young girls.
Gallop was released on $50,000 unsecured bond.
The retired Wanchese sea captain was charged in April with five counts of indecent liberties with a child, one count of first-degree statutory rape and three counts of first-degree statutory sex offense.
Under North Carolina law, statutory sex offenses involve minors under age 13 and some degree of penetration. Indecent liberties involve minors under 16 and sexual actions with no penetration.
The alleged offenses were inflicted in 1985 and 1993, Assistant District Attorney Robert Trivette said.
In a civil suit filed Jan. 3 in Dare County Superior Court, Leslie Ann Parker, 18, of Virginia Beach, accused Gallop of fondling her in 1985, when she was 7 years old.
Gallop contended at a public meeting in January that Parker's suit against him was a blackmail attempt. Parker is seeking $10,000 in damages. Gallop is her grandmother's uncle.
Attorney John Morrison, Gallop's attorney at the Monday morning arraignment in Dare County Superior Court, said questions about a possible conflict of interest in representing Gallop will soon be resolved.
Morrison's partner, H.P. Williams, was the district attorney at the time Parker's alleged abuse took place, he said.
The Elizabeth City attorney said his firm brought the matter to the prosecutor's attention.
``If they don't have a problem with it, then I believe we would stay with the case,'' Morrison said.
No trial date has been set.
KEYWORDS: SEX CRIME by CNB