EX-DEPUTIES DENIED BAIL IN THEFTS

A federal judge ordered two former Robeson County deputies detained
until they are tried on charges of stealing money seized in drug
operations, threatening suspects and committing arson.

The former deputies -- C.T. Strickland and Roger Taylor -- were named
in a 10-count indictment that was unsealed Friday. A detention
hearing for Steven Lovin, another former deputy also named in the
indictment, was postponed until Monday.

The detention hearing for Strickland and Taylor was held Wednesday at
the federal courthouse in Fayetteville.

Family members of Strickland and Taylor gasped and cried when U.S.
District Judge James Gates announced that the two men would be
detained because he considered them a flight risk and a potential
danger to the community. Strickland and Taylor have been held in
isolation from other prisoners since their arrests Friday morning.
Officials would not say where they were being held. Their lawyers
argued that they would be safer and better off if allowed to be free
until trial.

Strickland, 39, and Taylor, 36, are accused of wrongdoing while
working as sheriff's deputies from 1995 until they left the
department -- for different reasons -- in 2003. They were indicted by
a grand jury after a 3 1/2-year state and federal investigation
called Operation Tarnished Badge. In arguing for their detention,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes Camden said hundreds of witnesses came
forward with evidence against the deputies. He said one witness
received three threatening telephone calls shortly after the deputies
were arrested: "Bang, bang, you're dead," "You can run but you can't
hide," and, "You won't never make it to trial to testify." Camden
said the caller used a voice-altering device when making the calls.
Before Gates ordered the men detained, Camden outlined the
government's case against them.

In 1997, Camden said, Strickland and Taylor were among deputies who
used violence to remove people from the home of Hubert Ray Locklear,
who is now a convicted drug dealer, and then burned the home to the
ground. Lovin also participated in the arson, the indictment says.

The next year, Camden said, Taylor conspired with others to burn
Lewis Vernon's home and pawnshop. The home was occupied at the time.
Camden said Taylor paid someone $1,600 for helping to burn the home
and used about 25 pounds of marijuana as payment for burning the
pawnshop. The 29-page indictment shows that Taylor faces six counts
of distributing cocaine or marijuana.

Strickland, Taylor and Lovin are accused of stealing tens of
thousands of dollars from drug-operation seizures along Interstate
95. The three are accused of falsifying vouchers to steal the money.

Strickland, who headed the sheriff's drug enforcement division, is
accused of stealing $11,000 from Daniel Watts in a common-law robbery
at Watts' home. The indictment says that Strickland threatened to
harm Watts. Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Bradsher said Strickland
and Taylor could face life in prison if convicted. But Strickland's
lawyer, James Parish, said Strickland faces a maximum of 20 years.
Strickland is named in far fewer counts than Taylor.

Parish and Taylor's lawyer, Joe Zeszotarski, argued that their
clients are accused of alleged crimes that occurred years ago. Both
have been working in the community since leaving the Sheriff's Office
and are not flight risks, the lawyers said.

Zeszotarski put Taylor's mother on the stand. Mary Taylor said her
son was active in church and had worked since age 16 for the
Lumberton Rescue Squad, once serving as its commander. Mary Taylor
said her son was also a member of the N.C. Resuce Task Force and was
among the first people to help Hurricane Katrina victims in New
Orleans. She said he helped evacuate 200 people from a hospital.

Strickland's wife, Paula, called her husband a hard worker. She said
their daughter is getting married this weekend. A Taylor family
friend and neighbor, Donna Barden, said she has known Roger Taylor
all of his life. "He's just a good boy," Barden said after the
hearing. "It's just not Roger to be that way." Training cited Judge
Gates said he ordered the men detained until trial partly because
their law enforcement training and experience increases their
potential risk of flight and threat to the community. He said the
gravity of the charges and the weight of the evidence also favored
detention. Strickland resigned from the Sheriff's Office in June 2003
after he was accused of falsifying information used to get a search
warrant and his credibility as a deputy came into question.

Taylor and Detective James Jacobs were arrested on conspiracy and
obstruction of justice charges in September 2003. The two were
accused of allowing a convicted felon to carry a weapon during a
sting operation and then trying to impede an SBI investigation into
the incident. Taylor was the commander of the Sheriff's Office
communications division at the time. He was awaiting trial on the
charges when he was arrested Friday.