‘Some of the worst I’ve ever seen’: No bond for man, woman charged in southern Wake County sexual abuse, child abuse investigation

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Two defendants charged in a sexual and child abuse investigation in Southern Wake County are being held without bond, a day after they were both arrested at a hotel in Raleigh.

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Wake County deputies, with the assistance of the Garner Police Department, took Lacy Hocutt Junior and Rachelleigh Galasso into custody yesterday, each on multiple felony charges.

“I will tell you in 18 years this is some of the worst I’ve ever seen,” an assistant district attorney said during Hocutt’s first court appearance Thursday.

Prosecutors said their arrests stem from an investigation that started in February, after the Wake County Sheriff’s Office received reports that several children recently placed into foster care had been abused.

“When CPS and Wake County got involved, the Sheriff’s Office went out to the residence where these children had been living and it was so filthy that investigating officers had to wear protective gear and body suits when they went inside the house,” the prosecution said.

Hocutt faces nine statutory rape charges in connection with this investigation, including three charges for a child under the age of 15.

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Galasso, meanwhile, faces four felony child abuse charges. According to the arrest warrant, one child reportedly was kept in a dog kennel with feces and had to be treated for E. Coli.

“He now rocks back and forth and all he yells is, ‘you’re never getting out, you’re never getting out’, which we can only assume is what was screamed at him while he was in that cage,” the prosecution said.

Prosecutors said the children have continued medical needs and hadn’t been to school until being taken from the house.

“They cannot read, they cannot write,” prosecutors said.

If found guilty, Hocutt could face life in prison. Galasso could be behind bars for more than 24 years if guilty on all charges consecutively.

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