COP ENTERS GUILTY PLEA

A Thomasville police officer arrested on drug charges last year
pleaded guilty to federal charges at an arraignment hearing in
Greensboro Tuesday.

State Bureau of Investigation agents arrested Russell Earl McHenry
Jr., 32, of W. Market Street in Greensboro Nov. 5 and charged him with
trafficking and conspiracy to traffic MDMA, also known as ecstasy;
possession with intent to sell marijuana; and conspiracy to deliver
marijuana. McHenry appeared before U.S. Judge Carlton Tilley Jr.
Tuesday and pleaded guilty to federal charges stemming from the case
involving narcotics, marijuana and distributing or dispensing a
controlled substance.

Sentencing is scheduled for 2 p.m. May 21.

After the arrest, Thomasville Police Chief Larry Murdock said a tip
about McHenry being involved in illegal activities prompted him to ask
SBI officials to assist the department's vice unit in an investigation
which led to McHenry's arrest and resignation.

McHenry had been with the department since 1990. He was promoted to
sergeant in Oct. 11, 1999.

McHenry was arrested a few weeks prior to the arrest of four other
area law enforcement officers by the FBI.

Those arrested include three Davidson County Sheriff's Office
deputies: David Scott Woodall, 34; Douglas Edward Westmoreland, 49;
and William Monroe Rankin Jr., 32. An Archdale police patrol sergeant
and former vice officer, Christopher James Shetley, also was charged.

In an indictment released by the U.S. Attorney's Office, an unnamed
informant who was also a law enforcement officer assisted in the
investigation against the four officers arrested in December.

According to the indictment, SBI agents arrested the unnamed informant
Nov. 5, the same day McHenry was arrested.