CORRUPTION PLAGUES ROBESON

Former Deputies Face Drug, Kidnapping, Arson Charges

Six men, some of them drug dealers, drove north from Robeson County a
couple of years ago to kidnap two Virginia men, prosecutors say. The
suspects thought the Virginia men had $450,000 in cash hidden inside a
black Chevrolet van.

At a gas station in Norfolk, prosecutors say, the men jumped out of a
red, four-door sedan with badges around their necks and guns in their
hands, yelling that they were the police.

In fact, two of those eventually charged were in law enforcement. They
were deputies with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.

The deputies also were on the payroll of the drug dealers, according
to an attorney for one of the deputies.

Corruption in law enforcement has long been suspected in Robeson
County, a sprawling county along the South Carolina line. Robeson is
plagued by a high murder rate and a widespread drug problem that is
fed by trafficking along Interstate 95. Robeson ranks 21st in
population among North Carolina's 100 counties, but its sheriff's
department ranks first in the state in cash received per capita as
part of the federal drug forfeiture program in the past three years.

In 1988, Robeson captured headlines when Native American activists
Eddie Hatcher and Timothy Jacobs took employees hostage at the
Robesonian newspaper in Lumberton. The men demanded an investigation
into local and state officials' involvement in drug
trafficking.

Almost two decades later, the Robeson County Sheriff's Office has been
roiled by state and federal investigations that have led to charges
against nine former deputies involving arson, assault, drug
trafficking, robbery and kidnapping dating to 1997.

That includes the February 2004 kidnapping, where prosecutors say two
deputies helped drug dealers handcuff the Virginia men, cover their
eyes with duct tape, load them into the van and head south along I-95.
When the caravan stopped for gas in Selma, the two men escaped.

Police were called, and the kidnappers fled. A Selma police officer
found a badge labeled "Security Officer" by a gas pump.

Selma police didn't know what they had stumbled upon. But a year
later, one of the drug dealers implicated the two deputies. About the
same time, federal and state agents were investigating the activities
of deputies in the drug unit in the Robeson sheriff's office.

One former deputy has admitted taking about $150,000 during traffic
stops along I-95. Another admitted embezzling $25,000 from the
office's drug asset forfeiture fund. Prosecutors are trying to seize a
2002 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a 2002 Ford F-250 truck that they
say another deputy purchased with stolen money.

Deputies Assist Dealers

The deputies in the drug unit were investigated as part of a federal
and state inquiry called "Operation Tarnished Badge." Among the many
criminal charges are allegations of setting fire to people's homes and
businesses, stealing tens of thousands of dollars seized during
traffic stops, and paying informants with drugs.

"You just almost cannot make up the litany of things that it appears
this drug unit had been doing for years," said Raleigh lawyer Joseph
B. Cheshire V, who represented one of the nine deputies who have faced
charges.

Defense lawyers who represented drug defendants in Robeson County say
their clients had been telling them for years that the drug unit's
deputies were taking a cut of the cash seized from them.

"The first time you hear that, you are skeptical," said Lumberton
lawyer Carlton Mansfield. "The second time, you think this guy must
have talked to the last guy. The third time, you wonder if there is a
school out there for drug dealers. The fourth time, you wonder, 'What
are those guys doing?' "

Mansfield said he expressed his concerns to then-Sheriff Glenn Maynor
in the late 1990s, but nothing happened. Maynor, who resigned in 2004
citing health problems, did not respond to requests for an interview.

Sheriff Ken Sealey, who came into office in 2005, did not return
repeated phone calls.

The two deputies who were accused of taking part in the Virginia
kidnapping were not members of the drug unit. They investigated crimes
involving juveniles. One of the two, Patrick Ferguson, has pleaded
guilty to his role in the kidnapping and is cooperating with
investigators, said his lawyer, Robert Nunley of Raleigh.

Nunley explained that Ferguson started having financial problems in
2002 and became suspectible to lucrative offers from drug dealers and
the officers working with them.

Here is how Nunley says the deputies assisted drug dealers: Tipped off
by local dealers, the deputies would conduct traffic stops on people
delivering drugs to the dealers. The deputies would seize the drugs,
deliver them to the dealers and be paid for their efforts, Nunley
said. At other times, the dealers would have the deputies stop people
who had made their drug deliveries and been paid in cash. The deputies
would seize the cash, return it to the dealers and get paid, Nunley
said.

"There were a number of people involved in drugs who ... took
advantage of their connections with law enforcement to have their cake
and eat it too -- to sell the drugs and get their money back and
conversely to get the drugs at no cost," Nunley said.

Beyond that, Ferguson and Deputy Vincent Sinclair, along with several
drug dealers, were charged with committing the Virginia kidnapping.
Sinclair is also accused of holding a drug dealer hostage until a
$150,000 ransom was paid and of lighting another dealer's arm on fire.

The County Copes

Some Robeson residents expressed surprise at the number of deputies
facing charges.

"I think we're all getting shocked," said Jerry Stephens, a
businessman, soon-to-be Robeson County commissioner and president of
the local NAACP branch. "You expect every once in awhile to have one
case, possibly maybe two. We've got so many. We don't know how to take
all the corruption down here. ... There's gossiping and talking at the
coffee shops about who is going to be next."

Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt said more criminal
charges are possible.

But the indictments have rippled through the courthouse. Britt said
his staff had to dismiss charges against as many as 300 drug
defendants because they cannot prosecute crimes based on the testimony
of indicted deputies. They have discovered one man who was wrongfully
convicted in a drug case, Britt said.

Britt says suspicions rose as the deputies appeared to be living
beyond their means.

Britt, who has served as the county's chief prosecutor for 12 years,
says a combination of factors led the deputies to commit crimes: a
large county geographically, a high crime rate and a small department
where deputies have long tenure and become familiar with the criminals.

"It's a combination of things that breeds corruption," Britt
said.

[Sidebar]

DEPUTIES FACE STATE, FEDERAL CHARGES

Robeson County deputies who have been charged:

CHARLES THOMAS "C.T." STRICKLAND, former head of the drug unit.
Strickland's lawyer, Joe Zeszotarski Jr. of Raleigh, said, "His plea
is not guilty, and he looks forward to going to trial."

ROGER HUGH TAYLOR, a former drug unit deputy. "What he has to say is
he is not guilty," said his lawyer, James Parish of Fayetteville. "He
cared very much about being a deputy. He took it very seriously. He
considered it an honorable calling. He maintains he didn't do anything."

STEVE RAY LOVIN, a former drug unit deputy. Durham lawyer Jeff Welty
said, "The government is painting with too broad a brush. Steve Lovin
is a straight arrow. We're looking forward to our day in court and to
clearing his name."

The trio face federal charges of stealing tens of thousands of dollars
from a fund that held the agency's share of seized drug money, of
stealing money and property during illegal searches, of committing
arson and distributing drugs. All three are scheduled for trial in
December.

Taylor also faces state charges of felony obstruction of justice and
conspiracy to obstruct justice for what prosecutors say was lying to
investigators about his failure to turn in a seized handgun as
evidence. Taylor's lawyer on the state charges did not return a message.

VINCENT SINCLAIR, a former juvenile crimes investigator, is charged in
state court in the kidnapping of the two Virginia men, the kidnapping
of another man who was held until a $150,000 ransom was paid, the
kidnapping and robbery of three others and the assault of a man who
had his arm set on fire. Sinclair's lawyer did not return messages.

PATRICK TERRELL FERGUSON, a former juvenile crimes investigator,
pleaded guilty to two federal charges for his role in the kidnapping
of the two Virginia men. Ferguson's lawyer, Robert Nunley, said
Ferguson is cooperating with investigators.

JOEY BRIAN SMITH, a former drug unit deputy, pleaded guilty in federal
court to misappropriating about $4,000 from a sheriff's office fund
that held the agency's share of seized drug money. He has agreed to
testify against the others.

JAMES OWEN HUNT, a former drug unit deputy, pleaded guilty in federal
court to stealing more than $150,000 during traffic stops along I-95.
He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify if needed.

KEVIN RUDOLPH MEARES, a former drug unit deputy, pleaded guilty in
federal court to stealing $25,000 from a sheriff's office fund that
held the agency's share of seized drug money. He also has agreed to
testify.

J.W. JACOBS, a former deputy, pleaded no contest to a state
misdemeanor charge of failing to discharge his duties. He was accused,
along with Taylor, of failing to report the seizure of a handgun from
an informant who was a felon.