State employee faces life in prison for accusations he engaged in sex crimes with a younger boy

Michael Zanchelli, 55, faces five charges of statutory sexual offense with a child younger than 15. Full story: https://www.wral.com/nc-employee-face... A state employee is facing life in prison without parole for accusations he engaged in sex crimes with a young boy. Michael Zanchelli, 55, of Cary, is charged with five counts of statutory sexual offense with a child younger than 15. He is facing life in prison without parole if he is convicted of any of the five charges. Authorities arrested Zanchelli on Tuesday. Zanchelli has worked as an internal audit manager since 2014 on behalf of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Two years ago, Cary police said there was an investigation that found Zanchelli was allegedly meeting up with a teenager that he met on the dating app Grindr. Warrants show that between May 2020 and June 2020, Zanchelli engaged in sexual acts with a boy younger than 15. A prosecutor said Zanchelli and the boy met on the Grindr app three separate times and oral sex acts were committed each time. Subscribe to WRAL:    / wral5   Follow WRAL: Facebook:   / wraltv   Twitter:   / wral   IG:   / wral   About WRAL-TV: WRAL is your Raleigh, North Carolina news source. Check out our videos for the latest news in Raleigh, local sports, Raleigh weather, and more at https://WRAL.com #localnews #northcarolina