SBI INVESTIGATING RED SPRINGS POLICE

RED SPRINGS - The State Bureau of Investigation is trying to determine why
evidence from a murder trial and seized drugs are missing from the Red
Springs Police Department.

Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt asked for the probe Sept. 29
after evidence for a murder trial and drugs that had been seized by an SBI
agent were found missing.

The SBI started its investigation Tuesday, said William McKinney, a
spokesman for the state Department of Justice.

Agents took control of the department's evidence room and changed the locks
on the door, Britt said.

Three SBI agents began an inventory Wednesday of items stored in the
evidence room. The items will be compared with evidence logs maintained by
Red Springs police officers.

"They will go item by item to determine what is there and what is not,"
Britt said.

Red Springs Police Chief Lum Edwards declined to comment about the
investigation or say whether any officers are on leave because of the
investigation.

"Talk to Johnson Britt," Edwards said. "He was the one who asked for the
investigation."

Forced to take plea

Britt called for the investigation after the state agreed to a lesser
sentence in a capital murder case last month. The state did not have
evidence to prosecute the case, he said, and photos and shell casings from
the rifle used in the shooting were misplaced, he said.

Marcus Galbreath, 29, of St. Pauls, was charged with first-degree murder in
the death of Jeffrey Thomas Fairley after a dispute concerning a basketball
game in Red Springs in 2001. Fairley was shot in a leg and bled to death,
Britt said.

Galbreath pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to six
to eight years in prison.

"We had no other choice but to take a plea," Britt said. "There was
nothing. Just the paper trail."

Britt also became concerned after drugs seized by an SBI agent nearly three
years ago were found missing from the evidence room last month.

An SBI agent visited Red Springs police Sept. 28 to pick up 2 ounces of
crack cocaine seized in 2002. The crack cocaine was turned over to a Red
Springs police officer who had helped with the investigation, Britt said.

"There was no evidence that it was ever turned in," he said. "That, coupled
with the other incident, caused me great concern."

Red Springs Mayor George Paris said Wednesday afternoon that he wasn't
aware of the investigation.

"It disturbs me," Paris said.

The SBI investigation is the latest probe involving law enforcement
agencies in Robeson County. The Sheriff's Office and the Lumberton Police
Department have been the target of several investigations over the past
three years that involved allegations of perjury, cover-ups and
misappropriation of money seized in drug raids.