Detectives: Salisbury Man Likely Molested Many Children

An elderly Rowan County man charged with sex crimes against a child may have molested many children over the past decade, investigators said Friday.

Aubrey Neal Grimes, 81, was arrested Thursday at his Salisbury home. He’s charged with two counts of first-degree sex offense with a child and one count of taking indecent liberties with a child.

Investigators said while they were arresting him, Grimes admitted to sexually abusing many children over the years but said he couldn’t remember their names. The current charges were filed after the parents of an 8-year-old boy filed a complaint saying the child had been molested in Grimes’ mobile home along St. Matthews Church Road. Investigators said they hope more alleged victims come forward.

Authorities are concerned because Grimes, also known as “Pops,” has been working for years as a score keeper with the East Rowan Little League in Faith. The concession stand, Pops’ Place, was even named for him. But the league’s president, Brent Houpe, said parents shouldn’t worry because Grimes did not work directly with children.

"He has not worked directly as a coach or an official member of East Rowan Little League," Houpe said.

But Houpe said he knows Grimes well, and the charges have him in “total disbelief.”

Grimes was convicted of indecent liberties with a child in 1986 but at the time the law did not require him to register as a sex offender. That’s why the little league had no idea about his criminal past.

Grimes has lived in eastern Rowan County for at least 10 years. He’s being held in the Rowan County Detention Center on $100,000 secured bond.