ROBESON DEPUTIES GOING TO PRISON

RALEIGH -- A federal judge sentenced two former Robeson County
sheriff's deputies to maximum terms Thursday and told a third to
expect more than the recommended sentence.

U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle sentenced Paul Pittman and Billy
Hunt to six months in prison. The two did personal work for former
Robeson County Sheriff Glenn Maynor at his home and for his campaign
while being paid for working as deputies.

Pittman and Hunt faced a maximum five years in prison but the federal
probation office recommended punishment ranging from probation to six
months they cooperated in the investigation known as Operation
Tarnished Badge. The five-year investigation has implicated 20 former
Robeson County lawmen, including Maynor. The former sheriff pleaded
guilty to perjury and conspiring to misapply federal money.

Besides sentencing Pittman and Hunt, Boyle considered the sentence for
a third former deputy, Joey Smith. In that case, Boyle delayed
sentencing after scolding a federal prosecutor for his willingness to
accept what Boyle considered a light penalty.

Smith pleaded guilty to misappropriating about $4,000 from a federal
drug fund and faces a maximum 20-year sentence. Prosecutors said Smith
made arrangements with a supervisor to repay the money.

Boyle recalled hundreds of bank tellers and estate lawyers who stole
money without paying it back.

"Everybody says, "Well, I'm going to give it back. I just needed it
right now,'" Boyle said. "That's an insult to this investigation. You
might as well have stayed home. That's like saying Robeson County is
not in the jurisdiction of the United States. ... To say, 'Well, you
get a couple of years to be good,' that's an insult to the public."
Boyle said Smith was part of a conspiracy that caused a loss of
$70,000 in federal funds. The money was from cash and property seized
during drug arrests. The judge criticized the recommendations of a
presentencing report for Smith. "Why did you not take into account the
financial value of the loss?" Boyle asked. "It's a conspiracy. It
alleges for a long period of time people were accessing illegally the
use of federal funds. ... This report is one-sided and not
representative of the facts of the case." Boyle told Smith he was not
going to give him probation and intended to exceed the recommended
maximum sentence. Smith and his lawyer accepted Boyle's offer to
reschedule his sentencing so he could prepare a response to Boyle's
sentencing.

Both Pittman and Hunt apologized for their crimes, and their lawyers
asked for probation.

"Paul (Pittman) was part of a corrupt administration," said his
lawyer, Nardine Guirguis. "I am specifically speaking about Sheriff
Maynor and his (Pittman's) supervisor, Mr. (C.T.) Strickland, who
instructed him to do the work at Mr. Maynor's home." Assistant U.S.
Attorney Wes Camden said Pittman and Hunt did landscaping work at
Maynor's house and worked on campaign fundraising events such as a
golf tournament and barbecue while being paid to work as deputies. It
was a federal crime because the Sheriff's Office gets federal funding.
Boyle rejected the requests for probation.

"These were people who were supposed to be the law," he said. "They're
either actively or passively watching the law being broken by
themselves, then they come in here after the fact and say, 'Well,
everybody else was doing it.' A courageous person would have arrested
the sheriff."