OPERATION TARNISHED BADGE - EX-DEPUTY GETS PRISON TERM

RALEIGH -- As a Robeson County deputy, James Owen Hunt stole at least
$150,000 from drug dealers he stopped on Interstate 95. On Monday, a
federal judge ordered him to spend two years in prison and repay the
money. Hunt, 41, of Ladson, S.C., cried as he apologized to U.S.
District Judge Terrence Boyle before his sentencing.

"Every day, I think about what I've done and how bad it was," Hunt
said. "How it affects my life, and it hurts." He thanked federal
prosecutors for giving him the chance to offset his wrongdoing by
providing evidence against at least 22 other former Robeson County
lawmen who have been implicated in the Operation Tarnished Badge
corruption investigation. Hunt had faced a maximum 20 years, but his
cooperation landed him a far lower term.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Bradsher said Hunt was unique among the
former lawmen who have been prosecuted since the state and federal
investigation began about five years ago. The U.S. Attorney's Office
says 22 former deputies have pleaded guilty in the
investigation.

"James Owen Hunt provided the greatest level of cooperation. There is
no individual who provided the same level of information as Mr. Hunt,"
Bradsher said. He said Hunt was interviewed by investigators 21 times.
In May 2005, he became the first lawman to break a "code of silence."
"When he did, that changed everything. That was a turning point,"
Bradsher said. Hunt gave information about deputies who planted
evidence, beat people and stole their property, Bradsher said. The
information made it difficult for other suspects to remain silent and
prompted several to plead guilty. Hunt pleaded guilty in July 2006 to
conspiring to launder at least $150,000 he took during six drug
enforcement stops from October 2001 to April 2004 along I-95. He used
some of the money to pave his driveway and buy a pontoon boat. As part
of his guilty plea, Hunt agreed to pay $150,000 in restitution. The
amount could be reduced by payments from co-defendants who have agreed
to similar terms.

Since leaving the Robeson County Sheriff's Office, Hunt has worked as
a switchman for a railroad in South Carolina.

Hunt's lawyer, J. Michael McGuinness of Elizabethtown, asked Boyle to
consider a sentence that would allow Hunt to keep his job and use the
income to pay the government and support his family.

Boyle, who has given terse verbal reprimands to many of the Tarnished
Badge defendants, did not comment during Hunt's sentencing but gave
him the lowest recommended term.

In another Tarnished Badge sentence, Billy Wayne Strickland, 41, of
Lumberton received a 30-day prison term to be followed by five months
of home confinement with electronic monitoring. He also was ordered to
pay $1,560 in restitution.

Strickland pleaded guilty to illegally receiving satellite TV signals.
He was one of three majors in the Sheriff's Office and oversaw
courthouse security, bailiffs and civil warrants.

Strickland's sentence was shorter than other Tarnished Badge
defendants accused of satellite piracy because he did not manufacture
the phony telecommunications cards that some deputies made and sold.