ONLY ON 3: Ex-wife of accused molester speaks out

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– A man accused of sex crimes involving a 10-year-old girl is out of jail on a $300,000 bond.

Nathaniel Malpass is charged with several crimes including 3 counts of first degree sexual offense on a child.

Neither he nor his attorney spoke to us on the record, but someone who knows Nathanial Malpass well did speak to us tonight, his ex-wife.

She says she was married to him for almost five years and has reason to believe these allegations against him are true.

“It was just easy to not want to think the worst,” said Ms. Malpass. For her protection, she’s hiding her identity and wants to be referred to as Ms. Malpass, as she still carries his last name.

Saying she knew things weren’t right once when she caught him with two children, one of them hers, in the bath.

“I didn’t notice Nathan around the house, and so I went in to check on the girls and Nathan was in there with the girls with the door shut,” she said.

She said she confronted Malpass, and he shrugged it off. She says her marriage to Nathaniel was a roller coaster of drug induced fighting and odd, uncomfortable sexual behavior toward her, her friends, and her young daughter.

When she saw Malpass had been arrested she didn’t know what to think

“My first thought was that I’ve known for a long time that he was a danger to either other females or young children,” she said, “because he had forced himself on me previously.”

Never pressing charges, though she says, she wishes she had done things differently.

“There was something very wrong with him sexually,” Ms. Malpass said. “Like sexually he was disturbed.”

Ms. Malpass would go on to say his behavior got so out of control she left and filed for divorce.

Nathaniel Malpass is facing charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.