WALLACE PD CHIEF UPSET AT ARREST OF OFFICER

The arrest Tuesday night of a Wallace police officer came as a
disappointment to Chief Bob Maready, but he's hoping it won't damage
his force's reputation.

"It's disappointing to everybody and it's especially disappointing to
anybody in law enforcement when something like this happens," he said.
"But I hope people are open-minded enough to know this can happen in
any profession.

"It's worse when it's a police officer because of the public trust,
but I hope they wouldn't let this one very isolated incident tarnish
their image of police officers. Most are good, hardworking
individuals." David Brown Jr., 31, was arrested at 11 p.m. at the
Wallace Police Department, State Bureau of Investigation officials
said. He was charged with conspiring to sell cocaine, conspiring to
deliver cocaine, conspiring to sell marijuana, conspiring to deliver
marijuana, robbery with a dangerous weapon and conspiring to commit
robbery with a dangerous weapon.

On Wednesday he also was charged with receiving a bribe. Brown was
placed under a $350,000 secured bond and is being held in the Duplin
County Jail. He is set to appear in court on April 13, at which time
if he cannot post bail, he could be moved to another facility because
of safety concerns, Duplin County District Attorney Dewey Hudson said
in a written statement.

Brown, a uniformed patrol officer for five years, was terminated from
the Wallace Police Department several hours before his arrest. "He
worked right up until the time of his arrest," Maready said. Both he
and Hudson stressed that throughout the SBI's investigation, there was
no evidence that any other law enforcement officers were connected to
Brown. "We feel pretty confident (no other officers were involved),"
Maready said. He did say, though, that he is slightly concerned about
the effect Brown's arrest would have on cases he was involved with,
but added that was more of a district attorney matter.

The SBI's months-long investigation was begun at the request of the
district attorney's office. It was joined by the Wallace Police
Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"I asked (the district attorney) to do the investigation," Maready
said. "Information came to me from a separate investigation that
(Brown) might possibly be involved in these activities that took place
in a relatively short time span in 2005."

He said he does not know what might have motivated this otherwise
unremarkable officer to commit these crimes. Brown had passed the
mandated background checks when he was hired and had never given any
indication of trouble. "I think I've described him before as an
average officer," Maready said. "He did what was expected and required
of him. I rated him as an average officer. "I have no idea what would
cause anybody to do something like this."