DEPUTY'S ARREST ON DRUG CHARGES DIMS SPIRITS

Regarded As Trusted Member Of Team Of 8, He Is Charged With Recruiting To
Sell Drugs

The arrest of an Alleghany County sheriff's deputy this week on federal
charges that he recruited two people to sell drugs seized during
investigations has left the small sheriff's office downcast but relieved, a
spokeswoman said yesterday.

The deputy, Ricky James Lyall, 33, of 1144 Prathers Creek Church Road in
Laurel Springs, was arrested Tuesday on eight drug-related offenses,
including conspiracy to possess drugs with intent to distribute, possession
with intent to distribute, making a false statement to a federal
law-enforcement agent, and six counts of extortion.

On Aug. 24, a federal grand jury in Charlotte returned a 15-count bill of
indictment against Lyall. The indictment had been sealed until Tuesday. He
was being held yesterday in the Mecklenburg County Jail. No information was
available about his bond.

Lyall has been on unpaid administrative leave from the Alleghany County
Sheriff's Office since April 23, 2004.

"The sheriff requested an outside investigation in April of that year and
had contacted the SBI in Hickory," said Nyla Duncan, a spokeswoman for the
sheriff's office. "It stemmed from an internal observation here between the
sheriff and our chief deputy. It was obvious to both of them that it did
not need to be an internal investigation."

Lyall is accused of protecting the two people he is alleged to have
recruited by "impeding criminal investigations; refusing to charge or
arrest them; failing to write or falsifying police reports," according to a
news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte.

Lyall is also accused of extorting the two people for "things of value,"
including "money from the sale ... of drugs and sexual favors."

He is also charged with making a false statement to a federal
law-enforcement agent, and with six counts of extortion under the Hobbs Act.

The Hobbs Act prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion that in
any way affects interstate commerce, the Justice Department's
crime-resource manual says.

Lyall had worked for Alleghany County since 1992, first as a dispatcher and
later as a deputy.

Others at the sheriff's office said that Lyall had become a trusted part of
the team of eight deputies, which includes the sheriff and chief deputy as
well as two deputies who are assigned to the Roaring Gap Country Club.

"We do have some auxiliary officers," Duncan said. "One of those is our
court bailiff. At night, there's really usually just one deputy that covers
the entire county. During the day, it's two and the chief deputy and
sheriff. In a county this size, you know, the sheriff works just like one
of the deputies does."

The investigation and this week's arrest have been hard on the spirit of
the sheriff's office, she said.

"I think that the morale of the entire department was just unbelievably
low, like April of last year," she said. "That sort of thing ... generated
a lot of discussion and rumor which I guess is normal in a small community.
I think that at this point everybody is relieved to see the end of the
investigation."

Sheriff Mike Caudill could not be reached for comment.

Duncan referred questions about the nature of the drugs that were involved
and their amounts to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte, which
declined to provide anything more than a copy of the indictment.