DRUG-DEAL CHARGES DROPPED

LUMBERTON - Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks has thrown out evidence in a
case against suspected drug dealers after learning an investigator provided
false statements to obtain a search warrant.

On Sept. 16, Weeks ruled that sheriff's Lt. C.T. Strickland obtained the
illegal warrant after he "knowingly" gave false statements to Magistrate
Tom Espey. Strickland wanted the warrant to search a dwelling near Red
Springs in February.

Two men, Christopher Dean Logan and Gary "Pee Wee" McLean, were charged
with selling cocaine after a search of a home they share on Samuel Drive in
the Bottom area near Red Springs.

District Attorney Johnson Britt dropped the charges against the men.

"It ends up being a bad case, and it leaves us with nothing to prosecute,"
Britt said.

Strickland supervises the sheriff's drug enforcement division.

Strickland, who has been with the department since 1988, said, "Our
information relies on the informant. In most cases in the same scenario we
are relying on informants as part of the investigation."

Strickland, who was at work Wednesday, did not comment on the search
warrant. Sheriff Glenn Maynor also declined to comment.

Lumberton lawyer Carlton Mansfield represents Logan and McLean.

"Everything that needed to be in the search warrant was in there, but it
was a lie," he said.

According to court records, Strickland told Espey he had information about
illegal drug activity at the home. He said the information came from an
informant who made a buy "under my direct supervision."

Strickland swore under oath that the informant had been to the home several
times and saw crack cocaine being sold there. Strickland said the informant
has provided reliable information about drug dealers in Robeson County,
according to court documents.

Weeks ruled that Strickland did not witness a drug transaction. Weeks wrote
that the informant had not been to the house before and had never seen the
men sell crack cocaine until Strickland sent her there. He said Strickland
had met the informant the day before the purchase and had never worked with
her.

Mansfield said the informant contacted him because she thought Strickland
had used her.

Britt said, "I've never been involved in a situation where anything like
this has arisen," he said. "I'm disappointed in the procedures that were
followed."