Grandparent worried after giving child’s name, address to arrested man who played Santa
The Cherokee Indian Police department reported that 78-year-old Bevier Hasbrouck Sleight worked at Santa's Land Fun Park and Zoo and that the charges were for incidents that happened at Sleight's home and not at the park.
By Taylor Thompson
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CHEROKEE, North Carolina (WLOS) — The Cherokee Indian Police Department said there are currently around a dozen victims of the former Santa at Santa’s Land who was arrested on multiple counts of child abuse on Aug. 29.
After seeing the news about the arrest of Bevier Hasbrouck Sleight, 78, who worked at Santa’s Land Fun Park and Zoo and is now facing 13 child abuse charges, a viewer who wished to remain anonymous told News 13 she’s concerned after giving out her grandchild’s name and address for a letter from Santa at the park.
The grandparent spoke with News 13 on Tuesday and said the visit to the park was on Aug. 24. The grandparent said they wanted to relive a childhood memory of going to the park.
“It was just a good memory for me with my grandparents to go, and I wanted to make those memories with my grandson,” the grandparent said.
The first thing the grandparent and grandchild saw when entering the park was Santa’s house.
“I’m like, ‘Hey let’s go see Santa,’ so we went into Santa’s house. He stood in there and talked to (my grandchild) for a little while,” the grandparent said.
At the end of the visit they were asked if they wanted to purchase a letter from Santa to be sent near Christmas time.
“Who wouldn’t want a surprise letter from Santa Clause?” the grandparent said.
They had to write out their grandkid’s name and address on the envelope, which, as grandparents, made their heart sink when they saw the news about Sleight being arrested.
“I was disgusted you know and then it was just instantly I want my envelope back, I don’t want him being exposed to my grandson’s address,” they said.
They started to think about how it goes even deeper than just their grandkid and that there’s a lot of addresses that could be compromised.
“It’s scary because you just don’t know how many people are involved in a sex trafficking ring, and was this connected in any way to have all these children’s addresses,” the grandparent said.
Police said that Sleight has no prior record, but that they were able to arrest him after one of the victims named Sleight as their abuser. Police confirmed his name with other victims.
“It’s disgusting, it sickens me, and to know that he’s doing this to young children who are right around my grandson’s age,” the grandparent said.
News13 reached out to Santa’s Land to ask when Sleight’s final date of employment was and their response to the grandparent’s concern over the letters. A spokesperson at Santa’s Land said they have no comment at this time.
Sleight’s charges include aggravated sexual abuse, offensive touching and contributing to the delinquency, indiscipline, neglect or abuse of minors. Court documents show Sleight sexually abused victims as young as 5 years old and that the incidents happened at his home.
Police said Sleight was the customer of 39-year-old Caroline Roland, who is accused of heading up a child trafficking ring. They said Roland was directly involved in how these children made contact with Sleight. Along with the incidents at Sleight’s home, court records also show incidents occurred at Roland’s home between March 2023 and March 2024.
Roland is currently in the Cherokee County Detention Center facing 11 charges, including child abuse, maiming and several assault charges. Police confirmed Sleight is not out on bond, but court documents showed that there is a secured bond set at $75,000 with electronic monitoring.
Sleight is scheduled to appear in tribal court at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Police said there are more people expected to be charged.
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