ARLINGTON, Tenn. — A 21-year-old man is facing a long list of charges after being accused of sexually abusing two of his relatives over the course of several years.
Court documents show two younger relatives of Joseph King recently came forward claiming he sexually abused them repeatedly for years.
“It just seems like it’s something that can not be true. That’s all I can say,” neighbor Wallace Dyke said. “I just can’t believe it. I just – beyond my belief.”
According to the arrest affidavits, both relatives, a 17-year-old girl and 19-year-old man, reported the alleged abuse in March. The girl told the other alleged victim first, then her psychologist, that King started sexually abusing her when she was 5 and King was 10, and continued until she was 13 and he was 17.
The man filed his report at the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office substation and told investigators the abuse began around the same time, when he was 8 and King was 11, and eventually came to an end around 2012.
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Court documents describe the alleged abuse in disturbing detail.
No one answered Sunday at King’s parent’s home where neighbors say he lives while attending nursing school, but people WREG spoke to defended him, telling us they’ve known King his entire life and can’t imagine him doing what he’s accused of.
“He’s a fine young man. That’s all I can tell you. He’s a, I call it, top-of-the-line,” Dyke said. “He’s the type, if he sees me doing something, he comes over and helps me.”
King is charged with eight counts of rape of a child and four counts of aggravated sexual battery.
Online court records show he was released from jail on his own recognizance.
King has no prior criminal record in Shelby County. He will be in court Monday morning.