Photographer faces child sex charges

RALEIGH -- A Wake County grand jury has indicted a North Raleigh photography studio owner on sex charges against children, some of which date to the late 1980s.

The grand jury returned three indictments against Ted Booker, 44, of 2431-131 Spring Forest Road, on Monday. Booker owns and operates a small photography business, Artistic Image Studio, authorities reported.

Raleigh police arrested Booker on March 26 and charged him with two counts of indecent liberties with a child and one count of first-degree statutory sex offense, court records show.

Authorities have accused Booker of engaging in a sex offense with an 11-year-old child between Jan. 1, 1988, and Dec. 31, 1989. Police also think Booker committed "a lewd and lascivious" act upon the 11 year old, court records show.

Police also accused Booker of taking indecent liberties with a 4-year-old child on or about Feb. 4, 2006, court records show.

Raleigh police took Booker into custody at the Wake County jail, where he was released the same day after posting a $50,000 bond, a jail spokesman said Tuesday.

Late Tuesday, Booker's attorney, Scott Wilkinson of Raleigh, said he was reluctant to comment until he saw the indictments and the charges.

Wilkinson said the case involving the 4-year-old child had been dropped by the Raleigh Police Department last year after Melanie Shekita, a Wake assistant district attorney, declined to prosecute.

Wilkinson said the incidents that allegedly occurred in the late 1980s involve a 28-year-old woman who he said was 10 at the time.

"That was 18 years ago," Wilkinson said. "At least that's what she claims."