COP'S CASES TO BE REVIEWED

Davidson Worked 4 Years As Detective

Criminal cases worked on by an Edenton police detective charged with
altering evidence will be reviewed, District Attorney Frank Parrish
said Thursday. Parrish didn't immediately know how many cases Michael
Aaron Davidson had worked on during his nearly four-year tenure with
the Edenton Police Department. But Parrish's office does intend to
conduct a full review of the detective's cases, he said.

"We haven't made any decisions on any one of those cases," Parrish
said. He declined to elaborate further, saying he couldn't comment on
the matter because it's part of an ongoing investigation.

Davidson, 32, was arrested July 10 and charged with altering evidence
in a criminal investigation. He was released on a $1,000 unsecured
bond. The State Bureau of Investigation's application for a warrant to
search Davidson's home suggests the charges were based on allegations
he planted evidence on several crime suspects he arrested.

The document also indicates Davidson has been investigated by the SBI
at least twice before.

The first probe began in 2000 after a crime suspect accused Davidson,
then a police officer for the Kinston Police Department, of planting
evidence on him. The second probe was initiated in 2001 after $2,800
Davidson had seized from a crime suspect turned up missing from the
Tyrrell County Sheriff's Office. At the time, Davidson was working as
a deputy sheriff for the department and had the only key to a box
containing the money, the SBI's search warrant application states.

Both investigations were closed without charges being filed, the
search warrant application states.

A second application for a search warrant indicates Davidson admitted
having $4,975.21 seized as evidence in a drug case he had worked on as
an Edenton detective. Edenton Police Chief Greg Bonner could not be
reached for comment Thursday.