HEGE AND WOODALL TARGET OF COUNTY MAN'S LAWSUIT

A Davidson County man who says now-suspended Davidson County Sheriff Gerald
Hege and imprisoned former narcotics officer Scott Woodall violated his
civil rights has filed a federal lawsuit seeking more than $100,000 in damages.

Darick Lynn Owens, 36, also claims Hege was negligent in hiring and
retaining Woodall as a narcotics officer. He filed the lawsuit Sept. 15 in
North Carolina's Middle District of U.S. District Court.

Owens was convicted on drug charges stemming from an incident in 2000, but
his sentence was overturned after Woodall and two other Davidson County
deputies, Doug Westmoreland and Billy Rankin, pleaded guilty to drug
distribution charges. The former officers are now serving time in federal
prison.

The lawsuit gives the following account of events:

On Sept. 16, 2000, Woodall planted marijuana and Ecstasy in Owens' vehicle.
He then told another unnamed deputy that he had received a Crimestoppers
tip that Owens had a large amount of drugs in the vehicle. That deputy
searched Owens' vehicle but did not find any drugs.

The next day, Woodall told the deputy that he had received another
Crimestoppers tip that drugs were in Owens' vehicle. This time, Woodall
accompanied the deputy to search the vehicle. Owens gave the deputies
consent to search the vehicle and said if any drugs were found in his
vehicle, they had been planted.

The officers found the drugs under the driver's seat of the vehicle and
arrested Owens on charges of possession with intent to sell and deliver
schedule I and IV controlled substances, maintaining a vehicle for a
controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. Owens was held
in the Davidson County Detention Center for 50 days before pleading no
contest to felony drug possession and receiving a sentence of two years
with supervised probation.

Owens was later interviewed by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents
during their investigation of Woodall and the other law enforcement
officers. On March 18, 2002, the district attorney's office dismissed the
charges, and a Superior Court judge overturned Owens' conviction.

According to District Attorney Garry Frank's dismissal motion, Woodall had
set up Owens "in retaliation for a domestic dispute."

In the lawsuit, Owens' lawyer, David Smith of Greensboro, argues that
Woodall and Hege deprived Owens of his rights as guaranteed by the Fifth
and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibit unlawful
search and seizure and guarantee due process, and the first article of the
state constitution.

Hege, he argues, was in effect also responsible for Woodall's conduct.

According to the lawsuit, Hege "willfully failed to exercise proper
supervision and control" of Woodall; failed to "establish reasonable
policies and take reasonable precautions in the hiring, promotion and
retention of officers," specifically Woodall; retained Woodall even though
Woodall "had shown a propensity for falsifying evidence, perjury and other
illegal conduct" during drug investigations; and failed to properly train
officers in lawful investigations, evidence collection and accountability.

"Defendant Hege knew or should have known of defendant Woodall's illegal
propensities prior to the incident and failed to take action to prevent
defendant Woodall's acts of misconduct," Smith stated in the lawsuit.

Owens is seeking compensatory damages of more than $100,000 for his
suffering and expenses incurred by his arrest. He is also seeking an
undetermined amount of punitive damages and reimbursement for court costs
and attorney's fees.

Hege's attorney, William Hill of Greensboro, said this morning he has not
yet been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on the allegations.