NC man who worked for Triad school districts charged with child sex crime

RANDOLPH COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A Randolph County man is facing a child sex crime charge, according to the Invictus Task Force.

Investigators say they got a cybertip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children earlier in August and identified Christopher John Tuft, 44, of Trinity, as a suspect.

On Friday, a search warrant was carried out by the task force and Tuft was taken into custody and charged with second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor.

Tuft was taken to the detention center and given a $75,000 secured bond. He will make his first appearance in court on Tuesday.

“We were able to identify that he was a person in a position of trust. A schoolteacher. And having access to small children, we take that very, very seriously, and we action these cases as absolutely quickly as possible. So we were notified yesterday about this case. We were able to get a legal process started. And this morning we were able to serve that legal process and take him into custody,” Founder of the Invictus Project and Detective with the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office Ray Dawson said.

According to Guilford County Schools, Tuft worked as an Exceptional Children teacher at Simkins Elementary School and was suspended on Friday.

Tuft was employed at Asheboro City Schools from Aug. 1, 2015, until April 30, 2025.

“Parents, unbeknownst to them, feel like their children are safe when their children are in their bedroom, in their home. But nothing can be further from the truth. These people are exploiting our children for sexually explicit images. In a lot of cases, these children are then enticed by these bad actors to link up to meet up with these people for who knows what, right? And so that’s the danger that our young people are faced with on a daily basis,” Dawson said.