News

Judge declines to lower Absher’s bond

Michael Absher

By Amy McCraw, Published: February 26, 2026

A Superior Court Judge on Thursday declined to lower the bond for Michael Absher, the Only Hope WNC founder who faces 23 charges of sexual offenses involving boys who stayed at or visited the shelter.

Absher’s bond will likely remain at $2.2 million after Judge J. Thomas Davis of Rutherford County denied a motion filed by Absher’s attorney, John D. Pritchard, to lower the bond.
Pritchard asked Davis to consider lowering the bond to between $500,000 and $1million.
“At least it is something more reasonable,” Pritchard told Davis while making his request in court on Thursday.
Davis denied the request after prosecutors told him the case could come to trial by the end of this year.
Davis also told prosecutors that a new law in North Carolina would allow them to request that Absher be held without bond.
District Attorney Andrew Murray said after the hearing that he did not expect to request that Absher be held without bond.
Absher appeared in court with his attorney in handcuffs and in the jail’s black and white striped uniform.
A group of people in the courtroom filled three rows of seats seat aside for victims in the case. They sat watching Absher, with some wiping away tears during the hearing.
Outside the courtroom, a woman who identified herself only as Megan said she was a teacher in Henderson County whose 13-year-old son knew Absher.
She said her son was not involved in the criminal charges filed against Absher. But she said his inappropriate behavior toward her son made her want to support the victims in the case.
Megan said she first met Absher at a basketball game and thought he just wanted to help kids. She said she later learned he had made inappropriate comments to her son.

“I’m glad it’s not reduced,” she said of Absher’s bond. “He should never get out. He is so manipulative.”
Alanna McCrain said she also attended the hearing because her teenage son is friends with one of the boys identified as victims in the case.
She said she hoped Absher would stay in jail because victims “need to know” that he is not free.
Absher has remained jailed since last July 31 under a bond that has grown to $2.2 million after a series of grand jury indictments charging him with first-degree statutory sexual offense, sexual exploitation and human trafficking of minors.
In his motion and in court on Thursday, Prichard outlined several reasons for lowering Absher’s bond.
“Defendant intends to mount a vigorous defense against these charges and would be better able to assist in his defense if released from custody,” Pritchard said in a motion filed earlier this month.
Pritchard told the judge that Absher is not a flight risk because he has strong ties to the community. He also needs to be free to help take care of his ailing mother, the attorney said.
The high bond, Pritchard said in the motion filed on Feb. 2, departs from state guidelines and the local judicial district’s bail policy and fails to take into account Absher’s longstanding community service and ties to his hometown. The court-imposed bonds ranging from $20,000 to $500,000 each on the charges are excessive, the defense attorney argued.