FORMER SHERIFF'S INVESTIGATOR SENTENCED IN DRUG CONSPIRACY

A former investigator with the Washington County Sheriff's Office was
sentenced by a federal judge in Greenville on Tuesday to six years in
prison for planning to purchase and sell cocaine.

James Edward Leonard, 55, of Plymouth, pleaded guilty in February to
conspiring to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute more
than 500 grams of cocaine.

According to a statement from the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
North Carolina, Leonard had conspired with the late Albert Jean Stanley to
purchase and distribute two kilograms of cocaine from a confidential informant.

Leonard had earlier accepted money to provide license tag and criminal
history information to the informant, the statement said, and he and
Stanley had agreed to protect illegal drug shipments from detection by
other law enforcement officers.

Stanley, a 52-year-old Plymouth resident, died of natural causes in
January, Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Bennett said in February.

Washington County Sheriff Stanley James said in February that Leonard had
been hired as a deputy in about 2001 and was promoted to investigator about
a year later.

Leonard was arrested on Sept. 11, 2003, and was immediately fired from the
sheriff's office. He has been held in custody since his plea hearing in
February.

In addition to the active sentence, U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard
also ordered that Leonard's prison time be followed by a supervised release
term of five years.