By Tim Gardner
Two former Avery County Sheriff’s Deputies have been charged with a pair of offenses following an investigation by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI).
Luis Alberto Sanchez, age 27, of Vilas, NC and Joshua James Mitchell, age 38, of Morganton, NC, have each been charged with contributing to the abuse of a juvenile and willful failure to discharge duties. Sanchez and Marshall were also indicted on the charges by an Avery County Grand Jury on January 24 after investigators presented their findings.
The abuse charge stems from Sanchez and Mitchell allegedly encouraging a 17-year-old teenage girl who was in the Sheriff’s Department Explorer Program to tase herself.
Marshall became a deputy in Avery County on February 3, 2020, and Sanchez on December 3, 2018. Both were terminated as Avery County Deputies on July 28, 2021, according to court records.
Sanchez and Marshall are scheduled to appear in Avery County Court on February 9, according to the North Carolina Courts web site (nccourts.gov).