SHERIFF AND SEVERAL DEPUTIES CHARGED IN DRUG TRAFFICKING

The longtime sheriff of Henry County, Va., and 12 former and current
deputies have been charged with participating in a drug-trafficking
ring in the rural county on the North Carolina border, Drug
Enforcement Agency officials said yesterday.

Harold F. Cassell, 68, who has been sheriff since 1992, was alerted to
the illegal activity but did nothing to stop it, instead making false
statements and aiding in money laundering to cover it up, federal
officials said.

Twenty people, including sworn officers, employees and associates of
officers, dealt in illegal drugs, including cocaine, crack, steroids,
ketamine and hundreds of pounds of marijuana, over a five-year period
beginning in 1998, federal officials said. Participants in the
conspiracy also trafficked in seized weapons, including a machine gun,
according to a 48-count indictment returned Wednesday in Abingdon and
unsealed yesterday.

"The accusations are very serious, and we're taking them seriously.
He's presumed innocent," said Cassell's attorney, John E.
Lichtenstein. "He has a great deal of faith, both personal and religious."

Cassell, who goes by Frank, patrolled Henry County for years as a
state trooper before becoming sheriff. He has been married for 44
years and has two daughters and several grandchildren, Lichtenstein
said.

The mayor of Martinsville, which has about 15,500 residents and is the
county seat, said people were distressed by the allegations. The
sheriff's office, with 122 employees, including 96 sworn officers, is
the primary law enforcement agency in Henry, which has no county
police department.

"Without question, there is a lot of talking, and more than a little
disbelief, and I think there's a lot of disappointment," said Mayor
Kimble Reynolds Jr. The mayor, who is a defense lawyer, said he had
heard courthouse whispers about "strong-willed personalities bumping
heads" inside Cassell's department but never any word that deputies
might be engaged in illicit activity.

DEA officials said a major break came in March 2005 during a large
investigation, dubbed Operation Cyber Chase, into illegal online
prescription drug sales.

While investigating more than 200 Web sites that illegally sold drugs
around the world, DEA agents intercepted an express mail package
containing 2 kilograms of ketamine, an animal tranquilizer known as
Special K, that was shipped to a Henry residence, the indictment says.

DEA agents set up a sting for its intended recipient, who told them he
was working as a middleman for Sgt. James A. Vaught of the sheriff's
office, the indictment says. The middleman said the residence was used
for drug deals and extramarital affairs, the indictment says. From
there, federal agents built a case against 20 people, including the
former head of the vice unit in the sheriff's office.

Cassell, who lives in Axton, allegedly agreed not to pursue
investigations and to pass on tips of outside law enforcement activity
to the conspirators. He also cosigned a loan for Vaught to help
launder $10,000 in drug proceeds that Vaught received, federal
officials said.

Vaught, 33, of Ridgway, resigned from the sheriff's office in March
2005 and agreed to cooperate with state and federal investigators, the
indictment says.

Cassell has a reputation as a seasoned sheriff who runs his office in
a blunt-talking, no-nonsense fashion.

The news comes as the region struggles with the loss of textile and
furniture-making jobs and with recent attention from the national news
media over a massive mortgage fraud case involving a Martinsville
native. The nation's largest home lender recently filed suit, saying
that Robert Penn, a Martinsville native who now lives in Indianapolis,
tricked dozens of Virginia residents into purchasing Indiana homes at
inflated prices.

"We're trying to battle back against the current," Reynolds
said.