A Roanoke Rapids firefighter who along with his girlfriend was charged with child sex offenses Friday has resigned.

City Manager Kelly Traynham confirmed this afternoon that the city accepted the resignation of Matthew Norton from the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department.

According to the state court calendar, Norton, 24, is scheduled to appear in Halifax County District Court on May 18 to answer to charges of statutory rape of a child 15 or less and indecent liberties with a child.

There has been no updated court date for Norton’s girlfriend, 20-year-old Alexus Madron, who faces the same charges.

As of this afternoon, Norton’s name did not appear in the online registry of the Halifax County Detention Center where he had been held on a $500,000 secured bond.

Madron’s name remained in the registry as of this report.

The couple was charged by the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation after interim Roanoke Rapids police Chief Gorton Williams handed the investigation of the case to the agency since Norton was a city employee.

The date of the offense, according to the arrest warrant, was February 1.