TWO PLEAD GUILTY IN MARIJUANA THEFT

Charges Stem From The Loss Of 5,000 Pounds Seized In A Drug Sting.

GREENSBORO - Two men facing federal drug charges involving marijuana stolen
from the old Chatham County landfill in September 2000 pleaded guilty
Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court.

Jody Mitchell Brafford, 31, of 436 Wall Road, Goldston, and Gary Leslie
Causey, 39, of 225 Sheep Rock Road, Snow Camp, will be sentenced Aug. 12 in
Greensboro. James Benjamin Harris, 35, of 8347 Holman Mill Road, Snow Camp,
also was indicted and is expected to plead guilty this afternoon.

Causey and Harris, who were charged with conspiring to sell more than 110
pounds of marijuana, face as much as 20 years in prison, three years of
supervised probation and a $1 million fine. Brafford, who was charged with
distributing about 80 pounds of the drug, could be sentenced to five years
in prison, two years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Causey, who has a wife and two children, broke down in tears after Judge
William L. Osteen stressed that the men would have to serve the entirety of
their sentences because there is no parole in the federal system. Osteen
gave Causey a moment to sit, drink water and wipe his eyes before continuing.

"The enormity of what he was facing just hit him all at once," said his
attorney, Michael Grace. "How would you know a scheme hatched over two or
three beers would get you into federal court?"

The FBI has been investigating the theft of 5,000 pounds of marijuana that
the Sheriff's Office helped seize during an undercover sting in February
2000. More than three-fifths was taken from a surplus Army truck parked
behind the department, and the rest from a shallow pit at the county landfill.

The factual basis for the cases against Brafford, Causey and Harris -- who
turned themselves in to U.S. marshals March 12 -- will be withheld until
the men are sentenced in August. Brafford, a former Chatham County backhoe
driver, helped deputies bury almost a ton of the marijuana at the landfill.

At a news conference in June, federal agents announced they were concluding
their investigation into the theft from the landfill and expected to arrest
as many as 10 suspects within two weeks. Almost a year later, Brafford,
Causey and Harris are the only suspects indicted, and their cases involve
less than 200 pounds of the missing drugs.

Grace said he was offended by a system that would allow law enforcement
officers to mishandle thousands of pounds of marijuana "while three
civilians take the brunt of it."

"The men who brought it here aren't being punished," Grace said. "The
police who held it for [almost a year] and who were responsible for it and
who have yet to explain satisfactorily what happened to it aren't being
held accountable. ... Yet these schmucks who dug it up and didn't make any
money off of it are facing active time."

Brafford, Causey and Harris will be evaluated to determine guidelines for
sentencing them. The court will take into account their histories, criminal
records, level of cooperation and acceptance of responsibility. But no one,
Osteen said, can predict their sentences.

Grace said he probably would ask for a hearing during the sentencing to
determine the exact amount of marijuana Causey conspired to sell. The
indictment says "in excess of 50 kilograms."