News (Media Awareness Project) - US NC: Series: Part 3 Of 4 - Barfield's Family, Neighbors Couldn't Say 'No' |
| Title: | US NC: Series: Part 3 Of 4 - Barfield's Family, Neighbors Couldn't Say 'No' |
| Published On: | 2002-02-26 |
| Source: | Fayetteville Observer-Times (NC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-24 19:46:34 |
Series: Part 3 Of 4
BARFIELD'S FAMILY, NEIGHBORS COULDN'T SAY 'NO'
Investigators say Phillip Henry Barfield led a reckless life.
They say he sold drugs and used them at the same time. He carried wads of
money in his pocket and never kept a job.
They say he slept with young women and sold drugs mainly to young people
whom he could intimidate and manipulate.
Barfield moved from place to place, but always ended up coming home. For
part of his life, Barfield lived near his father on land that had seen five
generations of his family.
His father still lives in an old house on a dirt trail off Harper House
Road outside Newton Grove in Sampson County. His brother's family lives in
a well-kept trailer behind his father. Part of the time, Barfield lived up
front, near the main road, but he used all of the property.
"He thought he owned everything down here," said his sister-in-law, Lisa
Barfield. "He acted like he ran everything. He just came here and took over."
At all hours of the night, she said, Barfield could be heard on her land.
"We knew what Phillip was doing. Everybody in Newton Grove knew what he was
doing," she said.
But nobody in Barfield's family tried to stop him from dealing drugs.
"You would just have to know Phillip to know why you wouldn't say 'no' to
him," Lisa Barfield said. "He just had that, I don't know, domination, I
guess you would say. A dominating personality.
"Phillip was always the cool one. He was the man."
A Chink In The Armor
His behavior would help lead to his downfall.
After the still-unsolved death of Jamie Hewett -- Barfield's main drug
customer, who was shot to death in 1998 -- Barfield's behavior became
erratic. Although he seemed to know that lawmen were closing in on him,
relatives and investigators say, it didn't stop him from building a
methamphetamine lab in a shed attached to his mobile home.
A pre-sentence investigative report indicates that the lab was built around
2000. Testimony in the sentencing of his wife, Charity, showed that the
Barfields injected a lot of speed. Charity Barfield, her lawyer said, was
an addict.
Lisa Barfield said she tried to help Charity. She would tell her that her
mind was not functioning properly. She said Charity Barfield felt trapped
in her marriage and couldn't get out of it. She was a drug addict with
nowhere else to go.
Phillip Barfield wasn't faring much better.
"He'd talk crazy," Lisa Barfield said. "They would stay up for days. They
were just crazy."
Phillip Barfield's temper led to court action on May 16, 2000, when his
wife took out a protective order against him.
The day before, court records show, Phillip Barfield had been drinking and
became angry because his wife went for a ride with a friend.
"He thinks I'm suppose to sit at home by myself with no-one," Charity
Barfield wrote in her request for a restraining order. "Well a little time
went by and he came back in slapping me talking about how he was going to
show me what hate was. Spit in my face."
She wrote that her husband knocked her across a chair and twisted her arm
until she thought it might break.
"Phillip has done this to me once again while I'm 5 months pregnant," she
wrote. "I am afraid for my life cause if you'll look at his record you'll
know why.
"When I came back to the house to gather my things he left me a message. It
was a book lying on the counter that's printed in big bold letters
'Contract Killers.'"
'He Had Total Control'
Charity Barfield never left her husband. She couldn't, said her mother, a
Shallotte business owner who asked not to be named.
"He had total control over her. Whatever he told her to do, she did," her
mother said.
Charity Barfield was just 18 when she met Barfield about nine years ago. He
was 35.
Before they met, her mother said, Charity Barfield was a pretty girl with a
bubbling personality.
"She basically had the world by the tail," her mother said. "She was
nothing like the person she became. She just became completely different."
Today, her mother cares for the Barfields' two children, ages 5 and 15
months, while their father awaits sentencing and their mother serves a
101/2-year prison sentence.
"My grandson asks me every night, 'When is my mama coming home?'" Charity
Barfield's mother said. "My grandchildren got 101/2 years. I got 101/2
years. We all got 101/2 years.
"It's an evil situation, and this should have been stopped a long time ago."
Her mother said that the Saturday before their arrests, Phillip Barfield
stuck a gun in her daughter's mouth during an argument and pulled the
trigger. The chamber was empty.
Lisa Barfield said her sister-in-law did try to leave her husband. Once,
she said, Charity Barfield went to investigators to tell them about his
involvement in drugs.
Brunswick County sheriff's Capt. Gene Caison confirmed that Charity
Barfield talked to him about her husband in 1998, shortly after Hewett's
murder.
"Someone contacted a member of her family, and she contacted us," Caison said.
He described Charity Barfield as "somewhat cooperative."
"She filled in a lot of blanks" and "gave us a starting point," Caison said.
A Virginia Connection
That starting point led to South Boston, Va., where investigators had
arrested Eric Brown on drug charges.
Investigators say Brown had been one of Barfield's customers. If he wanted
to stay out of prison, lawmen told Brown, he would have to go to work for them.
With the government's backing, Brown bought more drugs from Barfield. This
time, investigators said, they found Barfield's fingerprint on a bag of
marijuana. It would become a major piece of evidence against him.
Not long afterward, investigators started using Timothy Bellamy as an
informant to buy drugs from Barfield and his friend, Michael Crumbley,
court records show.
The records say Bellamy recorded 16 tapes involving drug deals with
Barfield. The tapes were made over the phone and in person, Dean said.
They included one drug deal in which Lisa Barfield's husband, Spencer, was
present. That deal happened at his father's home, records show.
After gathering a mountain of evidence, a small army of officers from at
least six law enforcement agencies moved in to arrest the Barfields on
March 6, 2001.
They seized nine guns, methamphetamine, and records from Barfield's home
and the methamphetamine lab from his shed. Outside, they found all-terrain
vehicles, a lawn mower and heavy equipment that investigators say were
stolen and swapped for drugs.
In Spencer Barfield's barn, lawmen found remnants of the methamphetamine
lab, a gun and a copper still for making moonshine.
Lisa Barfield swears that her husband never knew those items were in the
barn. She said Phillip Barfield placed them there that morning. He knew he
was about to be arrested, she said.
Spencer Barfield would be arrested three months later. His wife believes
authorities forced the charges on him because he initially refused to
cooperate.
She said her husband never sold drugs and tried to distance himself from
his brother. A judge saw things differently.
Going To Prison
Although Spencer Barfield did eventually cooperate with the investigation,
Judge James Fox ruled on Feb. 5, he knew what his brother was doing and
helped to further his drug trade.
On the same day that Charity Barfield was sentenced to 101/2 years in
prison, Fox sentenced Spencer Barfield to 71/2 years in prison. Barfield's
friend, Crumbley, got 14 years.
Phillip Barfield, who has pleaded guilty, is scheduled for sentencing in
April. He could get four life terms.
As Fox imposed the sentences on Barfield's wife, brother and friend, Lisa
Barfield cried uncontrollably. Their 11-year-old son sat by her side,
stroking her arm. His father will be in prison at least five years.
In a nearby seat, Crumbley's fiancee -- a striking redhead who recently
gave birth to Crumbley's son -- fought tears alone. The boy will not get to
know his father for at least another 10 years.
Two days after the sentencing hearings, Leo Hinson stood accused of hiring
a hit man to kill witnesses. Investigators refused to identify them.
Maj. Richard Pulliam of the Halifax, Va., Sheriff's Office said
investigators didn't want to arrest Hinson so soon. They wanted to go after
his top associates first, Pulliam said, but people's lives were in danger.
He said eight to 10 witnesses remain in jeopardy. Pulliam and others say
Hinson is still capable of almost anything.
"There is no doubt in my mind that he has the resources to do whatever he
wants," Pulliam said.
Pulliam said he first met Hinson at a farm in 1994.
"He portrays himself as a gentleman farmer," Pulliam said.
Hinson, he said, is anything but.
Tomorrow: Investigators say that as the net closed in on Leo Hinson, he
plotted to have witnesses killed.
BARFIELD'S FAMILY, NEIGHBORS COULDN'T SAY 'NO'
Investigators say Phillip Henry Barfield led a reckless life.
They say he sold drugs and used them at the same time. He carried wads of
money in his pocket and never kept a job.
They say he slept with young women and sold drugs mainly to young people
whom he could intimidate and manipulate.
Barfield moved from place to place, but always ended up coming home. For
part of his life, Barfield lived near his father on land that had seen five
generations of his family.
His father still lives in an old house on a dirt trail off Harper House
Road outside Newton Grove in Sampson County. His brother's family lives in
a well-kept trailer behind his father. Part of the time, Barfield lived up
front, near the main road, but he used all of the property.
"He thought he owned everything down here," said his sister-in-law, Lisa
Barfield. "He acted like he ran everything. He just came here and took over."
At all hours of the night, she said, Barfield could be heard on her land.
"We knew what Phillip was doing. Everybody in Newton Grove knew what he was
doing," she said.
But nobody in Barfield's family tried to stop him from dealing drugs.
"You would just have to know Phillip to know why you wouldn't say 'no' to
him," Lisa Barfield said. "He just had that, I don't know, domination, I
guess you would say. A dominating personality.
"Phillip was always the cool one. He was the man."
A Chink In The Armor
His behavior would help lead to his downfall.
After the still-unsolved death of Jamie Hewett -- Barfield's main drug
customer, who was shot to death in 1998 -- Barfield's behavior became
erratic. Although he seemed to know that lawmen were closing in on him,
relatives and investigators say, it didn't stop him from building a
methamphetamine lab in a shed attached to his mobile home.
A pre-sentence investigative report indicates that the lab was built around
2000. Testimony in the sentencing of his wife, Charity, showed that the
Barfields injected a lot of speed. Charity Barfield, her lawyer said, was
an addict.
Lisa Barfield said she tried to help Charity. She would tell her that her
mind was not functioning properly. She said Charity Barfield felt trapped
in her marriage and couldn't get out of it. She was a drug addict with
nowhere else to go.
Phillip Barfield wasn't faring much better.
"He'd talk crazy," Lisa Barfield said. "They would stay up for days. They
were just crazy."
Phillip Barfield's temper led to court action on May 16, 2000, when his
wife took out a protective order against him.
The day before, court records show, Phillip Barfield had been drinking and
became angry because his wife went for a ride with a friend.
"He thinks I'm suppose to sit at home by myself with no-one," Charity
Barfield wrote in her request for a restraining order. "Well a little time
went by and he came back in slapping me talking about how he was going to
show me what hate was. Spit in my face."
She wrote that her husband knocked her across a chair and twisted her arm
until she thought it might break.
"Phillip has done this to me once again while I'm 5 months pregnant," she
wrote. "I am afraid for my life cause if you'll look at his record you'll
know why.
"When I came back to the house to gather my things he left me a message. It
was a book lying on the counter that's printed in big bold letters
'Contract Killers.'"
'He Had Total Control'
Charity Barfield never left her husband. She couldn't, said her mother, a
Shallotte business owner who asked not to be named.
"He had total control over her. Whatever he told her to do, she did," her
mother said.
Charity Barfield was just 18 when she met Barfield about nine years ago. He
was 35.
Before they met, her mother said, Charity Barfield was a pretty girl with a
bubbling personality.
"She basically had the world by the tail," her mother said. "She was
nothing like the person she became. She just became completely different."
Today, her mother cares for the Barfields' two children, ages 5 and 15
months, while their father awaits sentencing and their mother serves a
101/2-year prison sentence.
"My grandson asks me every night, 'When is my mama coming home?'" Charity
Barfield's mother said. "My grandchildren got 101/2 years. I got 101/2
years. We all got 101/2 years.
"It's an evil situation, and this should have been stopped a long time ago."
Her mother said that the Saturday before their arrests, Phillip Barfield
stuck a gun in her daughter's mouth during an argument and pulled the
trigger. The chamber was empty.
Lisa Barfield said her sister-in-law did try to leave her husband. Once,
she said, Charity Barfield went to investigators to tell them about his
involvement in drugs.
Brunswick County sheriff's Capt. Gene Caison confirmed that Charity
Barfield talked to him about her husband in 1998, shortly after Hewett's
murder.
"Someone contacted a member of her family, and she contacted us," Caison said.
He described Charity Barfield as "somewhat cooperative."
"She filled in a lot of blanks" and "gave us a starting point," Caison said.
A Virginia Connection
That starting point led to South Boston, Va., where investigators had
arrested Eric Brown on drug charges.
Investigators say Brown had been one of Barfield's customers. If he wanted
to stay out of prison, lawmen told Brown, he would have to go to work for them.
With the government's backing, Brown bought more drugs from Barfield. This
time, investigators said, they found Barfield's fingerprint on a bag of
marijuana. It would become a major piece of evidence against him.
Not long afterward, investigators started using Timothy Bellamy as an
informant to buy drugs from Barfield and his friend, Michael Crumbley,
court records show.
The records say Bellamy recorded 16 tapes involving drug deals with
Barfield. The tapes were made over the phone and in person, Dean said.
They included one drug deal in which Lisa Barfield's husband, Spencer, was
present. That deal happened at his father's home, records show.
After gathering a mountain of evidence, a small army of officers from at
least six law enforcement agencies moved in to arrest the Barfields on
March 6, 2001.
They seized nine guns, methamphetamine, and records from Barfield's home
and the methamphetamine lab from his shed. Outside, they found all-terrain
vehicles, a lawn mower and heavy equipment that investigators say were
stolen and swapped for drugs.
In Spencer Barfield's barn, lawmen found remnants of the methamphetamine
lab, a gun and a copper still for making moonshine.
Lisa Barfield swears that her husband never knew those items were in the
barn. She said Phillip Barfield placed them there that morning. He knew he
was about to be arrested, she said.
Spencer Barfield would be arrested three months later. His wife believes
authorities forced the charges on him because he initially refused to
cooperate.
She said her husband never sold drugs and tried to distance himself from
his brother. A judge saw things differently.
Going To Prison
Although Spencer Barfield did eventually cooperate with the investigation,
Judge James Fox ruled on Feb. 5, he knew what his brother was doing and
helped to further his drug trade.
On the same day that Charity Barfield was sentenced to 101/2 years in
prison, Fox sentenced Spencer Barfield to 71/2 years in prison. Barfield's
friend, Crumbley, got 14 years.
Phillip Barfield, who has pleaded guilty, is scheduled for sentencing in
April. He could get four life terms.
As Fox imposed the sentences on Barfield's wife, brother and friend, Lisa
Barfield cried uncontrollably. Their 11-year-old son sat by her side,
stroking her arm. His father will be in prison at least five years.
In a nearby seat, Crumbley's fiancee -- a striking redhead who recently
gave birth to Crumbley's son -- fought tears alone. The boy will not get to
know his father for at least another 10 years.
Two days after the sentencing hearings, Leo Hinson stood accused of hiring
a hit man to kill witnesses. Investigators refused to identify them.
Maj. Richard Pulliam of the Halifax, Va., Sheriff's Office said
investigators didn't want to arrest Hinson so soon. They wanted to go after
his top associates first, Pulliam said, but people's lives were in danger.
He said eight to 10 witnesses remain in jeopardy. Pulliam and others say
Hinson is still capable of almost anything.
"There is no doubt in my mind that he has the resources to do whatever he
wants," Pulliam said.
Pulliam said he first met Hinson at a farm in 1994.
"He portrays himself as a gentleman farmer," Pulliam said.
Hinson, he said, is anything but.
Tomorrow: Investigators say that as the net closed in on Leo Hinson, he
plotted to have witnesses killed.
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