Warrant: Computer crimes search leads police to gun in UNC employee office
A former University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill employee was fired last week after police found a 9 mm handgun in his campus office, authorities said Monday.
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Charles Hitlin, 42, was charged with felony possession of a gun on campus property. He is due in court in January.
Police searched Hitlin's office in Rosenau Hall after an undercover investigation led them to his computer.
According to a search warrant posted on the Daily Tar Heel website, an undercover officer was chatting with someone claiming to be Hitlin's wife, Amy Hitlin, also a UNC employee, about having sex with multiple partners, including a 12-year-old and 15-year-old boy.
Investigators traced the chat back to Charles Hitlin's computer, according to the warrant.
Police said they plan to also search Amy Hitlin's office in University Career Services for the School of Public Health.
Charles Hitlin's attorney, Meredith Nicholson, said her client is a good person who is the victim of a spying government.
"Mr. Hitlin is not a predator, not a pedophile and not a pornographer," she said in a statement. "He is not a danger to his community."
Charles Hitlin was fired on Nov. 12, more than 11 years after he started at UNC. He worked as an information technology manager, and his annual salary was $91,705.
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