New Hanover County jury convicts Wilmington man on child sex charges

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A Wilmington man was sentenced to at least 50 years in prison for child sex crimes following a trial that began on August 25th.

Michael Samuels, 44, was found guilty of four counts of sex offense with a child, rape of a child, and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child.

The victim, now a teenager, disclosed the abuse to her family in November 2020, and the Wilmington Police Department was notified.

An investigation by WPD showed that in 2015 the defendant, who was a family friend, sexually abused the victim, who was four years old at the time, on multiple occasions over the course of the year.