ROCKINGHAM — A man is facing an felony sex offense charge following an alleged incident early this week.

According to a magistrate’s order, 43-year-old Alfred Alexander Watkins, of Pine Ridge Drive in Rockingham, took “immoral, improper and indecent liberties” with a victim under the age of 16 “for the purpose of arousing and gratifying sexual desire.”

Police say the incident happened at the victim’s home on Monday.

The complaint was filed at 10:57 p.m. and Watkins was brought in to the Rockingham Police Department for questioning where he was subsequently arrested.

Watkins was charged with a single felony count of taking indecent liberties with a child. He was booked into the Richmond County Jail at 2:48 Tuesday morning under a $25,000 secured bond. He is scheduled to appear in Richmond County District Court on Feb. 11.

Online court records show Watkins has no other pending charges.

He was released from prison in October of 2012 after serving nearly 15 months on a 2010 felony conviction of selling a Schedule II controlled substance following a probation revocation, according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety Division of Adult Correction.

Watkins previously spent more than six years behind bars after being convicted of robbery with a dangerous weapon in 2001 and two weeks in 1998 on a misdemeanor larceny conviction.

Records show Watkins was also convicted on misdemeanor charges of: shoplifting in 1991; driving while impaired and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle in 1993; and breaking and entering in 1997.

If convicted on the current charge, a Class F felony, Watkins faces a sentence range of 10 to 49 months in prison.

All defendants facing criminal charges are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in court.

Reach reporter William R. Toler at 910-817-2675 and follow him on Twitter @William_r_toler.

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By William R. Toler

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