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Archive for the ‘NORTH CAROLINA’ Category
Veteran Concord North Carolina Postmaster Keith Allen Fraley Arrested On Sex Charge And Kidnapping After Attacking Female Employee In Post Office
July 1st, 2008
CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA - The postmaster at the downtown Concord post office was arrested this morning in connection with a sex offense that allegedly took place at the post office with a female employee.
Keith Allen Fraley, 52, of Gatsby Place N.W., Concord, was charged with one count each of second-degree sexual offense and second-degree kidnapping.
Concord Police Chief Merl Hamilton said the incident took place on May 17 at the post office on McCachern Boulevard. Hamilton declined to give details of the assault but said it was “inappropriate sexual contact.” He said second-degree sexual offense involves “any sexual contact other than intercourse.”
While she and Fraley were both working, the employee was held against her will in an office inside the postal facility, Hamilton said. He declined to say how long the victim had worked for the post office or how old she was. The U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office investigated, along with Concord police officers.
Read MoreLawyer Targets Durham North Carolina And State Police Gestapo Tactics At Nazi-Style Checkpoints After Being Falsely Charged By Officer R.W. Goswick For Not Rolling Down His Window Fast Enough - Disgraced Officer Didn’t Even Bother Showing Up In Court And Case Was Dismissed
June 20th, 2008
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - Ricardo Velasquez, a Durham lawyer well-versed in his rights, spends most of his time in court trying to help clients weather scrapes with the law.
But last week, Velasquez was the one in trouble. He was accused of resisting, delaying or obstructing an officer for failing to roll down his car window fast enough or far enough at a checkpoint set up near downtown Durham.
With defense lawyer Scott Holmes by his side, Velasquez had hoped to have his day in court. What the attorneys aimed to do was fling open a window to a justice system where complaints about questionable police tactics often are hushed.
But the case was dismissed when R.W. Goswick, the N.C. Highway Patrol officer who lodged the allegations, failed to show up for court.
Read MorePig Crap Delivered To North Carolina Governor Mike Easley’s Office By Protesters After Governor Broke Promise
June 19th, 2008
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - Eastern North Carolina residents unhappy to be living near hog lagoons gave Gov. Mike Easley what’s inside those pits.
Members of environmental groups dropped off what they said was a gallon of hog waste at Easley’s office Thursday. Lower Neuse Riverkeeper Larry Baldwin says they left the jug there after they couldn’t get an answer at the Executive Mansion.
The groups wrapped up a two-day vigil in Raleigh. They say Easley broke his promise to eliminate lagoons within five years. They also argue there’s a loophole in a 2007 law designed to phase out the open pits.
Easley policy director Alan Hirsch says the governor has done his best to make the industry as clean as possible. He says technology to replace those lagoons has taken longer to develop.
Read MoreFormer Robeson County Sheriff Glenn Maynor Sentenced To 6 Years In Federal Prison After Lying To Grand Jury
June 19th, 2008
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - The former sheriff of Robeson County was sentenced to six years in federal prison today for lying to a grand jury about corruption in his department.
Glenn Maynor admitted lying to the grand jury during an investigation into allegations that members of the sheriff’s department abused their authority. He pleaded guilty to perjury and conspiracy in September.
As he sentenced Maynor, U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle asked him why he didn’t take his position as sheriff seriously.
“Why didn’t you arrest these deputies or fire these deputies? You were the boss,” Boyle said.
Maynor responded: “I realized I dropped the ball.”
After the sentencing, Maynor left the courthouse in an SUV. Boyle instructed him to report to prison by Aug. 1. It was not immediately clear where Maynor will serve his term.
Read MoreMacon County North Carolina Deputy Sheriff Christopher Hoover Arrested, Fired, Charged With Child Molestation After Sex With 3 Year Old Girl
June 19th, 2008
MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - Patrol officer Christopher Hoover, 24, was arrested June 5 and charged with three counts of indecent liberties with a child. Two days earlier, Macon County Sheriff’s office terminated his employment.
Arrest warrants signed Wednesday by Superior Court judge, indicate three counts of indecent liberties with a minor. The events are said to have taken place between June 2, 2007, and June 2, 2008. The young girl will turn four this July.
Indecent liberties with a minor are considered a class F felony. For a person with no prior felonies or misdemeanors, a judge could issue anywhere between 10 to 12 months at the lowest sentence or 20 to 24 months as a maximum sentence. Sentencing is dictated by general statute 15A- 1340.7 and is based on both felony class and point system. “A” being the highest felony class, the higher the class and the higher the point indicates the severity of the sentencing.
The charges stem from an investigation prompted by the Department of Social Services and concluded by the N.C. State Bureau of Investigations (SBI).
Read MoreNorth Carolina Police May Have Ignored Report Years Ago That Woman Wanted To Hire A Hit Man To Kill One Of Her Five Now-Dead Husbands
June 16th, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - Police may have ignored a warning years ago that a woman with five dead spouses was trying to hire a hit man to kill one of the men, investigators in North Carolina said Monday.
Betty Johnson Neumar is shown at her booking. She is charged with hiring a hit man to kill her husband.
Authorities charged 76-year-old Betty Neumar last month with one count of solicitation of murder in the July 1986 death of Harold Gentry. Gentry’s brother had begged investigators for two decades to take another look at the case.
Stanly County sheriff’s investigators believe Neumar tried to hire several people to kill Gentry. Lead detective Scott Williams said Monday his office is looking into the possibility that one of those would-be hit men went to authorities before Gentry’s death, but no one took him seriously.
“That’s another aspect we’re looking into,” Williams said, declining to elaborate.
Read MoreCharlotte Mecklenburg North Carolina Police Officers Gerald Holas And Adam Ross Arrested On Federal Crack Cocaine Charges
June 13th, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officers have been arrested on federal drug charges.
Gerald Holas and Adam Ross were arrested on Thursday afternoon. Both are charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine base, better known as crack cocaine.
Another man, David Lockhart, faces the same charge and a second charge of possessing crack cocaine.
An order was put in place to seal many of the documents, including the FBI’s affidavit, which said that wiretapping was used in the investigation.
Holas was assigned to the Street Crimes Unit and has been an officer for nine years. Ross worked in the Adam 3 District and has been an officer for two years.
All three men are being held in federal custody at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Jail. Their next court date is scheduled for June 16.
If convicted, the men face a minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. Appeared Here
Charlotte Mecklenburg North Carolina Police Officers Gerald Henry Holas And Jason Adam Ross Appear Before Judge To Answer To Drug Dealing Charges
June 13th, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - Two Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers resigned after they were arrested on federal drug charges late Thursday.
Authorities said the arrests of Gerald Henry Holas and Jason Adam Ross, both 35, were the result of a joint investigation between the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The two walked handcuffed, with their heads down, into federal court Friday afternoon to appear on charges of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine over 50 grams.
A third man appeared in court alongside the former officers. David Lockhart, 25, is charged with conspiracy and actual possession of crack cocaine in the ongoing investigation headed by the FBI.
A CMPD spokesman said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked the department not to speak on the arrests at this time. Federal documents with details on the investigation and charges are still sealed. A filing by the U.S. Attorney’s Office states that revealing the contents of the documents could cause co-conspirators not yet apprehended to flee and would impair the investigation.
Read MoreJudge Calls For Rehiring Of Totally Disgraced North Carolina Highway Patrol Officer Charles Jones After Firing For Beating Dog Hung From Deck - Caught On Video
June 7th, 2008
RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA - A state administrative law judge today called for reinstatement with back pay for a Highway Patrol trooper who was videotaped kicking his dog while it was suspended from a deck.
Judge Fred Morrison concluded that state officials short-circuited disciplinary procedures in firing Charles Jones over his treatment of the dog. Gov. Mike Easley’s office “decided and ordained” that Jones should be fired without giving him a chance to explain himself, Morrison said.
Morrison also called on the state to stop using dogs for law enforcement unless the state purchases dogs that already are trained and assigns them only to troopers who also are fully trained. In such cases, he said, the state also should give the troopers specific written compliance techniques for dealing with the dogs.
The judge’s ruling goes to the State Personnel Commission, which will make the final decision on Jones’ dismissal.
Read MoreNew Charlotte Mecklenburg North Carolina Police Chief Rodney Monroe’s College Degree Questioned
June 3rd, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - A Virginia university and a multistate accrediting body are investigating the bachelor’s degree that new Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Chief Rodney Monroe received last year.
At issue is whether Monroe completed the necessary 30 credit hours of study at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, which awarded him a bachelor’s in interdisciplinary studies, said Belle Wheelan, the accrediting body’s president.
Monroe and the man who hired him, Charlotte City Manager Curt Walton, said the degree is legitimate.
“It is very unfortunate that I find myself responding to this anonymous and utterly ridiculous allegation,” Monroe wrote in a statement to the Observer Saturday. “I continue to treasure my degree and take great honor in achieving a personal and professional goal in my life.”
Monroe declined to reconcile an apparent disparity between the credit hours he accumulated at VCU and the larger number the school typically requires. Any further questions, he said, would have to be answered by the university.
Read MoreFormer Media Darling And Brunswick County North Carolina Sheriff Ronald Hewett Pleads Guilty In Federal Court To Obstruction Of Justice
June 2nd, 2008
BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - Former Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett on Monday morning pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice in a Raleigh federal court.
Hewett faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison followed by three years supervised release and a $250,000 fine.
He will be sentenced Sept. 8 in Raleigh.
Hewett turned in his passport in court this morning.
As part of his release agreement, which keeps him out of jail at least until sentencing, Hewett was ordered not to use alcohol and could be ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment if deemed necessary, the judge said.
Hewett said Monday he is taking Xanax to help him sleep, and medication to control his blood pressure and cholesterol.
Roseboro North Carolina’s New Police Chief Anita Merritt’s Husband Is A Convicted Child Molester
May 30th, 2008
ROSEBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - Some town residents are upset that the husband of Interim Police Chief Anita Merritt is a registered sex offender, saying her relationship with a convicted felon is a conflict of interest.
Tyrone Merritt, 36, was convicted in Massachusetts in March 2001 of taking indecent liberties with a child in connection with a May 1999 incident. He was sentenced to probation.
The incident occurred before Anita Merritt married her husband and before she joined the Roseboro Police Department in September 2004.
“Anything that happened to him has no reflection on me or my character or on my job,” said Anita Merritt, who was sworn in as police chief Thursday.
“He’s made one bad choice in his life, and he’s paid his debt to society,” she said. “Anyone who knows my husband knows he’s a wonderful man.”
Read MoreCharlotte North Carolina Police Shoot And Kill Man - 5 Witnesses Say Police Officers Are Lying About Incident
May 29th, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - We like to think we’re pretty smart here in Charlotte, and we are.
We buy money. We sell money. We make money. That’s our trade. And it takes brains and strategic thinking to do it well.
But in one respect, we’ve shown our ignorance in the past week here in the Queen City.
Too many of us don’t grasp why it’s so important not to have trigger-happy police officers.
Conflicting accounts
Nearly 10 days have passed since Aaron Winchester, 21, was shot twice in the back and died on Sylvania Avenue, a residential street north of uptown. Police and witnesses said he ran from a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer after being questioned about a domestic incident that resulted in a traffic accident. But that’s where the accounts part ways.Police said Winchester reached for something in his back right pocket as he ran and started to turn toward the officer with a gun in his hand. A silver handgun was found just inches from the body.
Read MoreNutcase Duke University Student/Minority Sex Worker Who Duped Police And Disgraced Former Durham County North Carolina Attorney Mike Nifong In Duke Lacrosse Case Awarded Police Psychology Degree
May 16th, 2008
NCCU also touts itself as a “drug-free academic community,” a claim that’s hard to take seriously when one of the college’s own students admits to turning tricks and getting high four or five nights per week. In fact, Mangum had overdosed on flexeril and booze when she was first picked up by police the night of March 14.
And that’s what makes Mangum’s latest milestone so infuriating: It demeans the accomplishments of thousands of hard-working, law-abiding Eagles who also graduated this May.
Former Officers Detail Mismanagement At Mint Hill North Carolina Police Department Under Recently/Suddenly Retired Chief
May 10th, 2008
MINT HILL, NORTH CAROLINA - The Mint Hill police chief took early retirement in December after being suspended for an undisclosed matter. His departure amid controversy was the last move for a chief who left a trail of questions.
Mint Hill created its own police department with the idea that they could protect their own community better and cheaper than leaving it up to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. But several former officers, who didn’t want to be identified, question the man who was put in charge and his turning a deaf ear to their complaints.
“There are good officers there, but they don’t call the shots,” a former officer said.
We first met the man calling the shots back in 2003. The department’s first and only chief, officers tell us Brian Barnhardt mismanaged the department.
“It just calls into question the entire practices of the police department,” said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen Nicolidies.
Read MoreNew York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Whore Sues Girls Gone Wild For $10 Million Over Videos From Back When She Was Just Some Teen Slut On Miami Beach
April 28th, 2008
MIAMI, FLORIDA - The call girl linked to the downfall of former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer sued the founder of the “Girls Gone Wild” series on Monday for $10 million, claiming he exploited her image and name to advertise the racy videos.
Ashley Alexandra Dupre, 22, contended in the lawsuit that she was only 17 — too young to sign legally binding contracts — and drunk on spring break in 2003 when she agreed to be filmed for “Girls Gone Wild” in Miami Beach.
Dupre “did not understand the magnitude of her actions, nor that her image and likeness would be displayed in videos and DVDs,” says the lawsuit filed by Miami attorney Richard C. Wolfe.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Miami names as defendants “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis, two of his companies and a man purportedly involved in creation of two Internet sites that the lawsuit contends improperly use Dupre’s image to sell DVDs and other products.
Read MoreOrange County North Carolina Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour Gives Former State Police Trooper Michael Steele Special Treatment After Officer Pleads Guilty To Serial Attacks On Female Motorists - Sentencing Postponed So He Can Remain Free And Be With His Baby’s Mother
April 23rd, 2008
HILLSBOROUGH, NORTH CAROLINA - The attorney for a former state trooper persuaded a judge to postpone his client’s sentencing Tuesday so he wouldn’t be in prison when his baby is born.
Michael Steele pleaded guilty Tuesday to 10 separate charges stemming from claims by three Hispanic women that Steele touched, kissed or fondled them during traffic stops in August.
The former trooper could serve as long as 36 years in prison for crimes that include felonious restraint, second-degree kidnapping, extortion, assault on a female and sexual battery.
Steele has one child, and his pregnant wife has accompanied him to recent court appearances.
Attorney Early Kenan asked that Steele be sentenced June 10. Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour set sentencing for May 20 — almost exactly nine months from the dates of the crimes he admits committing.
Read MoreDumbass Former China Grove North Carolina Police Officer Edward Adam Hudson Charged With Impersonating A Police Officer
April 23rd, 2008
CHINA GROVE, NORTH CAROLINA - A former China Grove police officer has been charged with impersonating a police officer.
Edward Adam Hudson, 28, of 167 Moosewood Drive, China Grove, was charged Wednesday by Rowan Deputy R.A. Amerson.
According to information contained in a warrant, Amerson responded to a call at Hudson’s residence April 2, where Hudson reported that someone had shot his dog.
Amerson said that while he was filling out the report on his computer, Hudson told him five times that he was a reserve officer with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Amerson subsequently checked with the police department and was advised that Hudson had never been employed there.
Hudson was employed with the China Grove Police Department until 2005, according to Chief Hodge Coffield.
His bond was set at $2,500. He has a May 29 court date.
Appeared Here
Dumbass Shelby North Carolina Police Officer Randy Conner Shoots Another Officer With What He Thought Was An “Air Soft” Training Gun, But It Turned Out To Be The Real Thing
April 22nd, 2008
POLKVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA - Some mistook the chaos as just part of an exercise.
Officers from several departments were in their second day of training on Polkville Road, using an abandoned building to go through hostage situation exercises.
But yellow tape around the building Friday afternoon - while officers declined to comment - gave the indication that whatever had happened was far more real than some believed.
“They said they had an accident,” said a man at the scene who identified himself as the property owner. “They said they were taking care of it.”
The silence from officials was eventually broken with the announcement that, in the midst of the exercise coordinated by Cleveland Community College’s Basic Law Enforcement Training program, an officer had been shot.
“We had one of our officers accidentally shoot another one of our officers,” said Interim Shelby Police Chief Jeff Ledford.
Read MoreNorth Carolina Probation Officer Chalita Thomas Quits After “Supervised” Teen Kills And Her Criminal Record Surfaces - Now Faces Drunk Driving And Traffic Charges
April 21st, 2008
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - The probation officer who was supposed to be overseeing a teenager charged with murdering two local college students, is due in court today.
Chalita Thomas will appear in court to face DWI and other traffic charges.
She was Laurence Lovette’s probation officer, and according to the Department of Corrections, she never actually met Lovette face to face, but instead spoke to him and his family on the phone.
Lovette is accused of killing UNC student Eve Carson and Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato while on probation.
Thomas has since turned in her resignation.
Appeared Here
$183,000 In Taxpayer Funds Paid To Suspended Greensboro North Carolina Police Officers - City Not Forthcoming With Facts
April 21st, 2008
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - After nearly one month of working with three different departments, I can finally share a figure with you in regards to the dollar amount paid to suspended Greensboro Police Department officers since 2006.
As a reminder, my initial request was not for an estimate, but due to the lack of record sharing within City Hall a hard figure was likely never to be received. That is when I asked for an estimate so that you would have an idea as to what the dollar figure might be.
“In response to your questions regarding the cost of administrative leave with pay for sworn personnel in the Greensboro Police Department, we have come up with the following estimate, based on average salaries and weeks of leave. The period covered is from January of 2006 to yesterday. The total estimated salary is $183,600,” said Pat Boswell, director of Greensboro’s public affairs department.
Read MoreFormer Henderson North Carolina Police Officer Anthony Finch Arrested, Charged With Threatening To Kill Vance County District Attorney
April 21st, 2008
VANCE COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA - A former Henderson police officer and suspected Klansman pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation, and now he’s in trouble again.
Anthony Finch is accused of threatening to kill the Vance County District Attorney.
Vance County Deputies arrested Finch Thursday. They said he was still upset about his arrest last year when he chased a black couple at gunpoint.
He was sentenced to two years probation.
Appeared Here
Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina Taser Weapon Killing Of 17 Year Old Discussed At Excessive Force Meeting
April 18th, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA - They’ve been around for decades, but Taser stun guns are under new scrutiny.
Last month a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer used a Taser on a 17-year-old who later died.
Darryl Wayne Turner’s death is the first Taser-related death in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s history.
CMPD can’t comment on the Turner case, but two officers attended a community meeting on Monday to explain how they use Tasers and when they use them.
“Our policy requires a person be a physical threat to themselves, to me or to you, before we pull a Taser,” said Officer Mike Campagna.
Resident Selina Jones attended the meeting. She says she’d “have one in a heartbeat.” But she did caution police that the age of the “victim” should be considered.
“We see a child. That’s someone’s child. Police are adults. It could’ve been handled in a different way,” she said.
Read More“No Evidence” To Charge Vance County North Carolina Sheriff Peter White’s Daughter With Drunk Driving After Sheriff Picked Her Up At Scene
April 16th, 2008
HENDERSON, NORTH CAROLINA - Vance County District Attorney Sam Currin said Wednesday there is “no proof” to charge the daughter of Sheriff Peter White with drunken driving, although he questions how a traffic stop last month was handled.
A deputy stopped a sport utility vehicle on U.S. Highway 1 south of Henderson on March 23 after drivers called 911 to report the vehicle was swerving through traffic as it headed the wrong way on the highway. Callers said the driver appeared to be drunk.
When the deputy realized the SUV driver was Shahita White, 34, he called Vance County dispatchers to report the incident, telling them Shahita White was “blistered.” A dispatcher then called the sheriff to notify him his daughter had been charged with reckless driving, and the sheriff went to the scene to pick her up. The dispatcher told White that his daughter was “55,” using a police radio-code shorthand for an intoxicated driver.
Read MoreDowntown Greensboro North Carolina High-Rise Used By Police Officers For Surveillance Prior To Cheif David Wray Quitting
April 16th, 2008
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA - Following the resignation of Greensboro police Chief David Wray in January 2006, the department’s criminal investigation division discovered that, unbeknownst to many outside the former chief’s small circle, a group of Greensboro police officers enjoyed free access to a space in a 14-story high-rise on South Elm Street that advertises its property to telecommunications tenants and operates on two separate power loops.
Diana Poston, a co-owner of the Guilford Building, said her family has allowed the police to keep a set of keys to the building since at least the mid-1990s. She said she believes that initially the police used the top floor of the building to conduct surveillance of drug dealing and prostitution, and then as downtown rebounded, they shifted attention to monitoring crowd dynamics. The police were never charged for access, and no contract was created to formalize the arrangement. Three floors of the telecommunications building are undeveloped, according to a description posted on the website of Downtown Greensboro, Inc.
Read MoreNorth Carolina Probations Officers Who Supervised Two Men Who Killed Woman Quit
April 16th, 2008
NORTH CAROLINA - Several N.C. Department of Correction officials found to have inadequately supervised the two men charged with Eve Carson’s death have quit.
Robert Guy, the department’s director of community corrections, announced the resignations during a Friday meeting of the Durham Crime Cabinet, The (Raleigh) News & Observer reported.
On the same day, Durham prosecutors reiterated their intent to pursue a first-degree murder charge against Lawrence Alvin Lovette, 17, in the death of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
They will do so despite not having evidence to prove Lovette was the triggerman, prosecutors told a Durham judge during a bond hearing. Stephen Oates, 19, also is charged in that death.
Lovette and Demario James Atwater, 21, are charged with first-degree murder in Carson’s death.
In a report released April 2, the Department of Correction identified errors in handling the probation each had been serving for prior crimes.
Read MoreSuspended Brunswick County South Carolina Sheriff Ronald Hewett Quits Amid Felony Charges
April 15th, 2008
BOLIVIA, NC - Suspended Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett resigned from his office this morning, according to a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.
Rex Gore, Brunswick County District Attorney, filed a notice to dismiss the petition this morning that sought Hewett’s removal.
”I hereby resign my position as the Sheriff of Brunswick County effective immediately,” Hewett wrote in a memo dated today and addressed to county commissioners.
Hewett still faces felony charges in state court.
Hewett was indicted on three county of embezzlement by a public official and one count of obstruction of justice by a public official. The claims accused Hewett of using deputies, who were on the county’s clock, to perform work at his home. The obstruction of justice claim accuses Hewett of not filing charges against a woman who is a distant cousin of his.
Read MoreState Investigation Sought After Vance County North Carolina Sheriff’s Daughter Isn’t Charged With Drunk Driving - County Deputies And Henderson Police Let Him Pick Up His Drunk Daughter Up From Scene
April 14th, 2008
HENDERSON, NC — Vance County District Attorney Sam Currin on Thursday asked for a state investigation into a recent traffic stop involving the daughter of Vance County Sheriff Peter White.
Currin asked the state Attorney General’s Office for a State Bureau of Investigation review of the March 23 stop in which Shahita White, 34, was charged with reckless driving. The move came after WRAL obtained memos filed by two Henderson police officers who participated in the traffic stop with county officers.
Two Vance County deputies stopped a sport utility vehicle on U.S. Highway 1 near Henderson after drivers called 911 to report the vehicle was swerving through traffic as it headed the wrong way on the highway. Callers said the driver appeared to be drunk.
Read MoreRocky Mount North Carolina Police Cadet Forced From Job After Police Chief John Manley’s Wife Found Out About Their Affair
April 6th, 2008
ROCKY MOUNT, NC — A former Rocky Mount police cadet who claims she was forced out of her job after having an affair with the police chief said Wednesday she never meant for the alleged encounter to happen.
“I found myself in a very vulnerable position in my law enforcement career,” Shirley Moore said in an exclusive interview with WRAL. “It was either the chief’s way or the highway.”
Chief John Manley has adamantly denied Moore’s claims of an affair and has said Moore left the position of her own accord.
In complaints filed with the City of Rocky Mount and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Moore accuses Manley of giving her the option of resigning or being fired after his wife learned of an alleged Sept. 14 encounter at a Rocky Mount hotel.
Read MoreVictim Seeks Compensation From State After Beating He Recieved While Handcuffed From North Carolina State Trooper Geary Blackwood
April 6th, 2008
RALEIGH, NC — A man beaten by a North Carolina trooper during a traffic stop 23 years ago went before a state Industrial Commission official on Thursday to try to get the state to pay for his injuries.
Deputy Commissioner Wanda Taylor heard arguments in the case of 50-year-old Richard Wayne Barfield of Wade, who suffered skull injuries.
State officials don’t dispute that trooper Geary Blackwood badly beat Barfield outside a Fayetteville convenience store in 1985. The trooper had stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving when Barfield got scared and ran. According to testimony in court, Blackwood ran him down and beat him, even after he was handcuffed.
The beating left Barfield with a fractured skull, three broken ribs, a broken nose, a smashed jaw and two broken teeth.
Blackwood was later fired.
A federal jury awarded Barfield $500,000 but Blackwood had no assets to pay the judgment.
Read MoreVance County Sheriff Peter White’s Daughter Not Charged Despite Belief She Was Driving While Drunk
April 5th, 2008
HENDERSON, NC - Vance County’s manager says he believes a reckless-driving case involving the sheriff’s daughter was handled correctly, even though conversations between deputies and radio dispatchers and between a dispatcher and the sheriff suggest suspicions that she was intoxicated.
Motorists driving along U.S. Highway 1, south of Henderson, on March 23 reported to 911 that a motorist was driving the wrong way on the highway, swerving. Multiple callers described the driver as acting drunk.
When a sheriff’s deputy pulled over the driver, he realized it was Vance County Sheriff Peter White’s daughter, Shahita White, 34.
There is no indication a sobriety test was administered nor that there was probable cause for one. A dispatcher called the sheriff to let him know. Shahita White was charged with reckless driving.
“You go ahead and call him at the house and tell him she’s blistered,” the deputy told the dispatcher.
Read MoreBurke County North Carolina Deputy Sheriff Will Face Perjury Charges After Lies Helped Send Innocent Man To Death Row For 14 Years
April 5th, 2008
RALEIGH, NC - The State Bureau of Investigation said Thursday that it will look into perjury claims against a Burke County sheriff’s deputy whose testimony helped send an innocent man to death row for nearly 14 years.
Dennis Rhoney, formerly of the Hickory Police Department, has been suspended from his current job while the SBI investigates the possibility that he lied in his testimony against Glen Chapman, who was convicted in 1994 of murdering Betty Jean Ramseur and Tenene Yvette Conley in Hickory.
Chapman was released from Central Prison on Wednesday after the Catawba County district attorney dismissed the murder charges, basing his action on findings made by Superior Court Judge Robert C. Ervin in an order last year.
Rhoney was named in Ervin’s order, which threw out Chapman’s conviction and granted him a new trial. Ervin’s 186-page order said evidence that proved Chapman’s innocence was withheld and Chapman’s trial attorneys didn’t represent him properly. The charges were dismissed when the district attorney found insufficient evidence for a retrial.
Read MoreTwo Women File Restraining Orders Against Former Winston-Salem North Carolina Police Officer John Stuckenschneider After Being Stalked And Threatened
April 5th, 2008
WINSTON-SALEM, NC -Two women who filed restraining orders against a former Winston-Salem police officer say they now feel threatened by the man they both dated.
Heather Oriol and Tamar Ridge each said they considered John Stuckenschneider to be Prince Charming at the beginning of their relationships. Both women said they began receiving threats from the ex-cop and aspiring actor after breaking up with him.
Oriol said she had been dating Stuckenschneider for about six months when she discovered he was also dating another woman. The other woman was Ridge, who said Stuckenschneider threatened to end her life after she ended a four-year relationship with him.
“He said he’s going to cut my throat … that he was going to cut my heart out and show it to me when it was still beating,” said Ridge.
Read MoreBrunswick County North Carolina Sheriff Ronald Hewett Gave His Son County Car To Drive, A Badge, Bulletproof Vest, Charged Overtime To County, And Used Deputy To Protect His Home
April 4th, 2008
HOLDEN BEACH, NC -Justin Hewett is accused of getting pulled over in a Brunswick County-issued car, charging overtime to the county and using a sheriff’s deputy to protect his house while a security system was installed, all before being sworn in as an officer of the law in North Carolina.
But the accusations do not stop there. Former and current staffers at the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office - the office his father, Ronald Hewett, ran for 14 years until his temporary suspension Thursday and indictment on misconduct Monday - also claim the sheriff used greeting his son as an intimidation factor and accuses Justin Hewett of using county office supplies as his “school supplies,” carrying around a Sheriff’s Office badge while wearing a bulletproof vest and not being a sworn officer, and even accompanying his father on calls before being sworn in.
Read MoreInnocent Man Released After 14 Years On North Carolina Death Row - Police Withheld Evidence
April 3rd, 2008
RALEIGH, NC — After 14 years on death row, an inmate whose murder convictions were thrown out because investigators withheld evidence walked out of prison Wednesday a free man.
Glen Edward Chapman, 41, was released from Central Prison shortly after 3 p.m. and ate a bologna and cheese sandwich _ a meal his mother used to make. He used a cell phone for the first time to talk to his father, sister and nieces he’s never met.
“I’m still shocked, but I feel good,” Chapman said. “I’ve still got a lot of adapting to do. A lot of things have changed, and I don’t want to try and rush nothing.”
Chapman was granted a new trial last year after a judge determined investigators mishandled his case. Messages left at the Catawba County district attorney’s office seeking comment on the decision to drop the murder charges and grant Chapman’s release were not immediately returned.
Read MoreGreensboro North Carolina Police Decide To Review Circumstances After Their Officer Attacked Senior Citizen And Charged Whim With Assaulting An Officer
April 3rd, 2008
GREENSBORO, NC — Greensboro Police Department leaders say they’ll review the circumstances surrounding the arrest of a man charged with assaulting an officer, after several inquiries into the case.
87-year-old Alexander Kohanowich was arrested on March 27, 2008 for assaulting a Greensboro Police officer.
Police say Kohanowich acknowledged in a news article that his actions toward the police officer were inappropriate and in a later interview with police personnel, he advised he did not want to file a complaint.
Kohanowich says he was standing in the street outside Barack Obama’s event at the Greensboro Coliseum when an officer approached him. He says he put his hand on the officer’s shoulder to speak to him, when the officer forced him to the ground.
Read MoreInnocent Witness To A Fight Wonders If Her Complaint After Being Attacked By Gastonia North Carolina Police Officer Arthur Johns Resulted In His Recent Short Suspension - Details Hidden From Victim And Taxpayers
April 3rd, 2008
GASTONIA, NC - Gastonia officer subject of complaint
Complaint filed in January may or may not be related to March suspension
A woman who filed a complaint that a Gastonia Police officer used excessive force against her in January does not know whether his recent suspension is related to the incident with her.
Officer Arthur Johns, 23, who has been with the Gastonia Police Department for 13 months, received a 15-day unpaid suspension on March 4, according to the city of Gastonia.
Police Chief Terry Sult said personnel privacy laws prevent him from discussing an internal investigation or the specific reasons for suspending Johns.
Brittany Gilmore, 20, received a letter from the Police Department dated Feb. 26 that said her report against Johns had been “thoroughly investigated, and the appropriate action has been taken.”
Sult declined to release information that would clarify why Johns was suspended. Johns could not be reached for comment.
Read MoreGreensboro North Carolina Police Officer Attacks Senior Citizen Who Held Sign Supporting U.S. Troops
April 2nd, 2008
GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA — Alexander Kohanowich is a patriotic guy. His six grandchildren call him Pop.
For at least five years, Pop has traveled around our city, showing his support for American troops overseas. He doesn’t say much. He just holds his signs at busy intersections and busy events to get people’s attention.
Maybe you’ve seen him.
He’ll hang, say, on Westover Terrace, near Wendover. He’ll face east in the morning, west in the afternoon, so drivers can see his signs clearly, without staring into a sometimes blinding sun.
His signs say a lot in a few words.
God Bless America!
We Support Our Troops!
They Give Their Today That We Might Have Our Tomorrow
This past Wednesday afternoon, Pop took his signs to Barack Obama’s town hall meeting and stood outside, on the grassy median on Coliseum Boulevard, across from War Memorial Auditorium.
Read MoreRaleigh North Carolina Probation Officer Chalita Thomas Had Criminal Record, Was Untrained, Had 127 Cases, And Never Met With Teen Who Went On To Kill
April 2nd, 2008
RALEIGH, NC. - The probation officer assigned to a teenager charged with killing the University of North Carolina’s student body president was handling 127 cases even though she hadn’t gone through basic training, state corrections officials said Wednesday.
A state investigation into the case of Laurence Lovette also found that he never met with probation officer Chalita Thomas.
Lovette, 17, of Durham, and another man are charged in the March 5 slaying of Eve Carson, who was found shot to death on a city street not far from the university’s campus in Chapel Hill.
Lovette pleaded guilty to misdemeanor larceny and breaking and entering on Jan. 16 in Durham. In the six weeks that followed, authorities in Durham arrested Lovette several times and charged him with nine different crimes, including burglary, car theft, breaking and entering, and resisting arrest. He was released after each arrest.
Read MoreUpdate: Veteran Charlotte-Mecklenburg North Carolina Police Officer Josephy Anthony Receives A Tiny Slap On The Wrist For Kidnapping And Rape
April 2nd, 2008
CHARLOTTE, NC - The tiniest bit of DNA found on the victim’s body helped convict Charlotte-Mecklenburg police Officer Joseph Anthony.
The veteran police officer, accused of sexually assaulting a 38-year-old woman last year, pleaded guilty Tuesday to assault on a female.
Mecklenburg Superior Court Judge Bob Bell placed Anthony on probation for two years, fined him $500 and ordered him to perform 24 hours of community service.
Bell also ordered Anthony, 39, to resign from the police force within 24 hours and to surrender his law enforcement training certification.
The victim told the judge she didn’t agree with the punishment.
“I don’t see how he can get off with a misdemeanor … This man raped me,” she said. “I don’t understand.”
Anthony was indicted in January and charged with the felonies of first-degree kidnapping and first-degree sexual offense. The sex offense charge is punishable by up to life in prison. The kidnapping charge carries a maximum punishment of 21 years’ imprisonment.
Read MoreIndicted Brunswick County North Carolina Sheriff Ronald Hewett’s Involvment In Cases May Result In New Trials, Appeals, And New Defenses
April 2nd, 2008
BOLIVIA, NC - Brunswick County Sheriff Ronald Hewett’s level of involvement in cases will determine whether convicts or current defendants appeal or present new defenses, attorneys said Tuesday.
Ask District Attorney Rex Gore, who was reviewing a May 2007 deputy shooting case in which Hewett contradicted what reportedly was in the police report, and he’ll say Hewett’s involvement will not impede the pending case.
Ask Brian Moore, the Wilmington, N.C., attorney representing the man shot by the deputy and Hewett’s contradiction poses “a big problem” for the prosecution.
Huey Marshall, the county attorney, said Monday night he won’t be surprised if the actions taken against Hewett result in lawsuits by people who feel they’ve been treated wrongly by Hewett or his office.
Gore said it took u