FORMER DEPUTY FACING POSSIBLE LIFE SENTENCE

RALEIGH - A former Robeson County deputy pled guilty Monday to
conspiracy to kidnap two Virginia men and using of a firearm during a crime.

Patrick Terrell Ferguson, 35, a former Robeson County sheriff's
detective in the Juvenile Task Force, and an accomplice, James Allen
Black Jr., 34, each pled guilty to the kidnapping and firearm's
charges at the Terry Sanford Federal Building, according to a release
from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Ferguson and Black, both of Red Springs, are expected be sentenced in
November. Each man could face a possible double life sentence and
about $500,000 in fines.

Ferguson and Black were charged by a bill of criminal information,
which generally means they have agreed to cooperate with federal investigators.

Federal prosecutors say Ferguson and Black drove from North Carolina
to Virginia on Feb. 27, 2004, kidnapped two Virginia men at gunpoint
and drove them back to North Carolina. A third person shot one of the
kidnap victims during the kidnapping, according to the criminal bill
of information. No one else has been charged in the crime.

Ferguson's lawyer, Robert Nunley, of Raleigh, declined to comment.

Vincent Sinclair, also a former detective in the Juvenile Division,
faces state charges that he participated in the Feb. 27, 2004,
kidnapping. A trial is pending for Sinclair, who was fired from the
Sheriff's Office shortly after his arrest in May 2005.

Black also pled guilty to robbing a suspected drug dealer of 2
kilograms of cocaine and about $150,000, prosecutors say.

In a separate state indictment, Ferguson, Black, David Troy of St.
Pauls, Michael Oxendine of Pembroke and Carl Patrick Locklear of
Maxton have been charged with kidnapping a man in December 2003 in an
attempt to get $150,000 in ransom.

Troy, Black and Oxendine were never lawmen.

Ferguson, Sinclair, Troy, Oxendine, Locklear are also accused of
staging a drug raid in May 2004 near Maxton and charged with robbery
and kidnapping.

Ferguson is the third former deputy to plead guilty to felony crimes
that were committed while employed at the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.

Felony Plea

Former sheriff's drug agents James O. Hunt and Kevin Meares pled
guilty to felony conspiracy to commit money laundering. Hunt and
Meares were charged along with three other former deputies - C.T.
Strickland, Roger Taylor and Steven Lovin - as part of a federal
investigation called "Operation Tarnished Badge."

Ferguson and Sinclair are not included in Operation Tarnished Badge.
Ferguson worked for the Sheriff's Office for about 10 years. Sinclair
worked at the Sheriff's Office from 1997 until last year.

The Robesonian was able to get a photograph of Black from the county
jail, but not Ferguson. That is because Ferguson was not processed there.