MACON COUNTY, N.C. (FOX Carolina) – The Macon County Sheriff gave a response after the sheriff of Flagler County in Florida slammed a North Carolina judge for lowering a child sex crime suspect’s bond.
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said Kermit Booth, 72, was arrested in Macon County on a warrant for two counts of sexual battery of a victim under 12.
Deputies report an investigation began against Booth in 2015 after the victim’s mother said he solicited sexual intercourse from the six-to-nine-year-old victim multiple times from 2006 to 2009.
New evidence allowed the sheriff’s office to obtain a warrant for Booth’s arrest on July 29, 2025, with a bond set at $500,000 by a Flagler County judge, officials said.
Booth was arrested in Franklin on Aug. 1 and taken to the Macon County Detention Center. A North Carolina judge lowered the bond to $35,000, which Booth posted, the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office said.
Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly gave the following statement on Facebook:
Macon County Sheriff Brent Holbrooks responded to the statement in a video on Facebook.
He said in the video that North Carolina is the only state that gives people with certain charges the right to bond, which is why many people flee to North Carolina, to fight extradition.
Florida would need to send a governor’s warrant, which would give Booth no bond. Deputies would then re-arrest him and put him in jail until he is extradited back to Florida, Sheriff Holbrooks said.
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