Marston Man Charged in Snapchat Child Solicitation Case

A 28-year-old man from the Marston community is facing two felony counts after investigators say he used Snapchat to solicit two children, ages 10 and 12, for sex. Irving William Duncan Hasbrouck-Miller was arrested on September 6 and is being held on a $50,000 secured bond, according to court documents. According to arrest warrant details reported by the Richmond Observer, Hasbrouck-Miller allegedly used Snapchat on a cellphone on September 4 to entice two children he believed to be 10 and 12 years old to meet with him for sexual intercourse. He was charged with two counts of soliciting a child by computer, and his next court appearance is scheduled for September 17. The Richmond County Sheriff's Office confirmed the arrest in a media release issued Monday. Sheriff Mark B. Gulledge said the investigation remains active and that additional details will be released as detectives continue their inquiry, leaving open the possibility of further charges as the case develops. Under North Carolina General Statutes § 14-202.3, soliciting a child by computer is classified as a Class H felony, carrying a statutory maximum penalty of up to 39 months in prison per count under state structured sentencing guidelines, per attorneys at Kurtz & Blum. That charge can escalate to a more serious Class G felony, which carries higher presumptive prison terms, if the defendant or an arranged accomplice actually appears at the designated meeting location, according to FindLaw's summary of the statute. North Carolina courts have also held that prosecutors do not need to prove an actual child was involved in these cases. A defendant's belief that they were communicating with someone under 16 is legally sufficient for conviction under the statute, according to Jetton & Meredith, PLLC, meaning mistake of age is not a defense available to defendants. A conviction also mandates registration on the North Carolina Sex Offender and Public Protection Registry upon release or probation, per Kirk Kirk Law, imposing long-term residential and employment restrictions beyond any prison sentence. The Marston case lands amid a dramatic rise in cyber tips flowing into North Carolina's child exploitation task force. Official state judicial figures published in January show that cyber tips reported to the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force nearly doubled from 26,771 in 2023 to 52,585 in 2025, according to the North Carolina Judicial Branch's human trafficking awareness proclamation. Reporting from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation relayed by WFAE in June found that online child exploitation tips across the state surged by 1,115% between 2019 and 2026. The Richmond County Sheriff's Office, headquartered in Rockingham, operates with 101 total personnel — 84 sworn officers and 17 non-sworn staff — serving a county population of roughly 46,000 residents spread across 474 square miles. Marston itself is an unincorporated hamlet along U.S. Route 1 in eastern Richmond County, situated about 11 miles east-northeast of Rockingham near the Rockingham Speedway, according to Mapcarta. Hasbrouck-Miller's arrest follows a string of comparable Snapchat-related solicitation cases Hoodline has covered across the Carolinas and beyond in recent months, including a New Bern sextortion case and a Moore County arrest tied to explicit messages sent to minors. The pattern reflects the broader statewide trend detectives and prosecutors say they are increasingly encountering as more cyber tips are reported. No additional charges had been announced as of Monday's release, and the sheriff's office has not said whether further victims may be identified as the investigation continues.