FORMER DEPUTIES FACE ADDITIONAL FEDERAL CHARGES

Three former Davidson County Sheriff's Office vice/narcotics deputies and
others jailed last month on federal drug distribution charges now face
additional charges, including alleged civil rights violations and extortion.

Lt. David Scott Woodall, Lt. Douglas Edward Westmoreland and Sgt. William
Monroe Rankin, who was released earlier this month on a $50,000 secured
bond, each face a civil rights violation charge for an alleged illegal
search of Wyatt Nathan Kepley's home.

Kepley, a Lexington area resident, was among those indicted with the three
deputies last month.

Woodall also faces two counts of extortion and a count of possessing a
firearm in the act of committing a felony, while Westmoreland and former
Archdale police Sgt. Christopher James Shetley, another of the defendant's
indicted in December, face one charge of extortion each.

U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner announced Friday the return of a
superseding indictment listing new charges against five of the six men
charged under the initial indictments filed last month.

The new indictment repeats the drug distribution charge against Woodall,
Westmoreland, Rankin, Kepley, Shetley and Lexington area resident Marco
Aurelio Acosta Soza, while also adding forfeiture allegations against all
but Acosta Soza, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office
in Greensboro. Court records show authorities plan to seize money, cars and
motorcycles from the defendants.

The new indictment also alleges that Woodall, Westmoreland and Rankin
violated Kepley's rights when they used a search warrant they knew to be,
"groundless, illegal and not supported by probable cause" and seized
property from Kepley's home in May 2000.

Also, Woodall and Westmoreland allegedly extorted about $2,500 from a man
using their offices, threats of violence and intimidation against the
alleged victim in October, and Woodall incurred a second charge of
extortion by allegedly taking another $600 from a man on Nov. 2.

Woodall allegedly committed the extortion while armed with a handgun in
violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, according to a count of the indictment.

Kepley faces an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a felon,
which stems from a Sept. 12 conviction in a San Diego County (Calif.)
Superior Court. Kepley was convicted of transporting a controlled substance
while in possession of a .45-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol.

No new charges were filed against Acosta Soza.

Rankin, Woodall and Westmoreland are scheduled to be arraigned on the
charges the week of Feb. 4.