FORMER ROBESON COUNTY DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY

A fourth former Robeson County deputy has pleaded guilty to charges
stemming from a federal and state investigation called Operation
Tarnished Badge.

Joey Brian Smith, 35, of Lumberton, pleaded guilty
Thursday in U.S. District Court in Elizabeth City to conspiring to
launder money, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh.

Smith pleaded guilty to misappropriating about $4,000 in federal
equitable sharing funds - money seized by law enforcement officers
from drug dealers. The money is turned over to the federal government,
which redistributes about 80 percent of it to the local departments
that seized it.

Smith could not be reached for comment. He faces a maximum sentence of
20 years in prison, three years' supervised probation, and a fine of
up to $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the money-laundering
scheme.

As part of his plea, Smith agreed to waive indictment by a federal
grand jury. He worked for the Sheriff's Office from September 1995 to
May 2005.

Smith's guilty plea follows those from former deputies James O. Hunt,
Kevin Meares and Patrick Ferguson. Hunt, Meares and Smith worked in
the sheriff's Drug Enforcement Division. Ferguson served as a juvenile
detective under Sheriff Kenneth Sealey.

The federal Internal Revenue Service and the State Bureau of
Investigation have been investigating corruption in the Robeson County
Sheriff's Office for more than three years.

In June, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the indictments of
former deputies Roger Taylor, C.T. Strickland and Steven Lovin. All
three worked in the Drug Enforcement Division under former Sheriff
Glenn Maynor. Their trial has been scheduled for December. Maynor
resigned as sheriff in December 2004, citing health reasons.

Hunt pleaded guilty in July to stealing more than $150,000 during drug
stops on Interstate 95 and agreed to testify against other deputies.
He acknowledged that he and Lovin stole money seized during drug
interdiction traffic stops along Interstate 95.

Meares pleaded guilty in August to stealing about $25,000 in federal
equity sharing funds.

Ferguson pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to kidnap two
Virginia men and use of a firearm during a crime.

Another former deputy, Vincent Sinclair, is also accused of kidnapping
the two Virginia men, as well as committing other crimes. A trial is
pending for Sinclair, who was fired from the Sheriff's Office shortly
after his arrest in May 2005.

Two former Lumberton police officers - Leon Oxendine and James Jordan
- - have also been charged since Operation Tarnished Badge began. The
two officers were accused of having an informant plant a computer disk
containing an image of a counterfeit $100 bill at the home of a
suspected drug dealer.

Jordan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was stripped of his law
enforcement certification. Oxendine was convicted in 2004 of tampering
with a witness, making false statements to the FBI and five counts of
making false declarations.