SOME ARE TROUBLED THAT OFFICER REMAINED ON STREET DURING PROBE

Numerous questions remain unanswered in the case of Brett Hobbs, the Leland
police officer charged May 5 with trafficking cocaine and obstructing justice.

For the time being, Leland police and other town officials aren't talking.

"We're making no further comments concerning his issues or his case or
anything surrounding it or regarding it," Chief Osey Sanders said earlier
this week. "He's got legal counsel now, so it wouldn't be prudent for us to
comment."

Cpl. Hobbs, 26, has many professional responsibilities. He is departmental
K-9 officer, SWAT team commander and has also served as a narcotics officer
since joining the force in April 2002.

Since last summer, Cpl. Hobbs advanced in rank, attended the SWAT school
and worked on the street, making arrests for drug offenses and other crimes.

"Not only did he continue to make arrests, he was promoted and sent to
advanced training school," said Chris Thomas, Brunswick County assistant
district attorney.

Potential legal implications of the Hobbs case are far-reaching. To date,
the District Attorney's Office has thrown out about 25 criminal cases
initiated by arrests made by Cpl. Hobbs this year, including at least five
felonies.

"We never want to dismiss cases against anyone. It endangers the public,"
Mr. Thomas said.

Lawyer Griffin Anderson represents criminal defendants in Brunswick County.
The allegations against Cpl. Hobbs prompted Mr. Anderson to review cases
arising out of arrests made by the Leland Police Department.

Mr. Anderson said that if prosecutors were aware Cpl. Hobbs was under
investigation for alleged criminal wrongdoing, they should have furnished
that information to defense lawyers -- an action clearly defined in the
1963 Supreme Court "Brady V. Maryland" ruling that serves as the landmark
case concerning issues relating to suppression of evidence.

"How would they have been affected if we had that information? I may have
handled it differently," he said of his clients. "I think there is a
responsibility by authorities to provide that kind of information under
Brady. It raises questions from the point in time authorities knew about
that activity."

Mr. Thomas isn't sure how earlier convictions obtained through arrests made
by Cpl. Hobbs will be affected. He will not elaborate on the activities of
Cpl. Hobbs after he became a police officer, other than allegations
connected with the 2004 obstruction of justice charge.

"For the last several months, we have been providing defense attorneys who
represent individuals arrested by Brett Hobbs with information about the
investigation," Mr. Thomas said.

The SWAT instruction was particularly troubling to authorities. Cpl. Hobbs
voluntarily surrendered to investigators, but no one knew how he would
react prior to May 5, Mr. Thomas said.

"At SWAT school, you are sent to a school to be more effective with
high-caliber weapons, which raised a great concern of our having to take
him into custody," Mr. Thomas said.

Between August 2000 and March 2001, Cpl. Hobbs attended and graduated from
the Brunswick Community College basic law enforcement training program. He
would have then had to pass a state certification examination to become a
law enforcement officer. "We believe he was still engaged in illegal drug
activity up to and during basic law enforcement training," Mr. Thomas said.
Authorities won't elaborate.

Brunswick County court records show Cpl. Hobbs had several minor brushes
with the law before becoming a Leland policeman, including several that
occurred while he was in basic law enforcement training.

In March 2001, Cpl. Hobbs was charged with unlawful possession of a game
animal, a fox. In April 2001, he entered a guilty plea to the minor
misdemeanor charge, received a five-day suspended jail sentence and was
placed on unsupervised probation for six months.

He was also charged twice with speeding -- in April 2001 by Shallotte
police and in August 2000 by Boiling Spring Lakes police, after being
clocked driving 86 mph in a 55 mph zone. Both cases were resolved without
criminal convictions. Cpl. Hobbs successfully completed a defensive driving
course.

When he was 21, Cpl. Hobbs was the victim of a home invasion in the Leland
area. On Oct. 25, 1999, two armed men wearing ski masks burst into the
Kingsworth Lane home where he was staying.

Shots were fired and the men fled. There were no injuries. No arrests have
been made in the case, which was investigated by the Brunswick County
Sheriff's Office.

Cpl. Hobbs posted $500,000 bond May 10 and is free pending a June 8 court
date. His parents put up property in a deed of trust to make bond, as did
Village Road neighbors of the Hobbs family, William and Lorene Potter.

Cpl. Hobbs is on paid administrative leave.

"He has accumulated compensatory time and there is paid vacation he is
entitled to," Leland Town Manager David Hewett said. When the vacation and
compensatory time runs out, "we will address that situation," he said.

Roy Trest, Cpl. Hobbs' lawyer, said the town is working on the pay issue,
and may assign him a job that doesn't involve police work.

Cpl. Hobbs' father is R. Gordon Hobbs, Leland councilman and mayor pro tem.
He has not returned calls seeking comment on the case. Mr. Trest has also
declined comment.

The multi-agency investigation into the drug distribution network allegedly
associated with Cpl. Hobbs has been active since at least 1998. Authorities
said the focus of "Operation Riptide" is on a drug ring that originates in
Mexico and imported more than 100 pounds of pure cocaine into Brunswick
County during 1999 and 2000.

Chief Sanders was informed of the investigation in the summer of 2004, Mr.
Thomas said, and learned even more several months later.

"It was definitely made available to the police department, specifically,
the chief of police. We've allowed the Leland police to completely review
this case file," Mr. Thomas said.

In December, Chief Sanders was shown particulars at the Brunswick County
District Attorney's Office.

Mr. Thomas said the chief was able to review evidence that includes a
photograph of Cpl. Hobbs taken from the home of co-defendant James Ellis, a
high school friend, depicting him in street clothing and smoking what
appears to be marijuana.

Chief Sanders was also given access to a cassette tape of Cpl. Hobbs
sitting in a patrol car while on duty and engaging in a conversation with a
relative of Mr. Ellis who is a convicted drug dealer, Mr. Thomas said.

The chief also looked at letters written by Cpl. Hobbs to Mr. Ellis, who is
in a federal prison.

All the alleged activities are in direct violation of police department
policy, Mr. Thomas said.

About a month ago, another high-ranking Leland Police Department officer
was also given access to the same material Chief Sanders reviewed, Mr.
Thomas said. He did not specify the officer.

Leland Town Manager Hewett acknowledged after Cpl. Hobbs' arrest that Chief
Sanders knew of an "investigation of an unknown nature" in the summer of 2004.

"In the 10 months since that time, Chief Sanders repeatedly asked the
District Attorney's Office to produce evidence that might lend credibility
to their investigation or warrant termination of the officer," Mr. Hewett
said in a recent release. "I am not sure why the District Attorney's Office
failed to respond to our repeated requests for substantive information they
had that lent credibility to the investigation. They'll have to answer that
question."

Mr. Thomas said he was taken aback with Mr. Hewett's comments. "They have
been made aware of the case," he said. "I really wish the city manager
would come look at the evidence. I would be happy to review it with him."

Chief Sanders was on vacation for two weeks during the time of Cpl. Hobbs'
arrest. He is now back on duty, Mr. Hewett said. Contacted earlier this
month, the chief said Cpl. Hobbs performance has been "monitored" since
last year.

"I was aware of the officer's activities at all times," he said. "During
that time, there was nothing displayed other than good police work." Leland
police employed a series of "checks and balances" that ensured Cpl. Hobbs'
job "was being performed as it was supposed to be," Chief Sanders said.

"What I knew had to remain confidential," he s