ONE OF THREE DAVIDSON COUNTY DEPUTIES RELEASED FROM JAIL

He Will Be Electronically Monitored, Have A Curfew

One of the three Davidson County deputies who were arrested on
drug-distribution charges in December was released from jail yesterday.

Former Davidson County Sgt. William Rankin was released on bond today after
a federal judge determined that there wasn't enough evidence to hold him in
jail.

Rankin, 32, was one of three Davidson County vice-narcotics deputies who
were indicted on drug distribution charges last month. Rankin was released
on bond set at $50,000.

Former lieutenants Douglas Edward Westmoreland, 49, and David Scott
Woodall, 34, are being held with no bond allowed.

The judged also denied bond for former Archdale Police Sgt. Christopher
Shetley, 35, Wyatt Nathan Kepley, 26, and Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza, 23.
They are in Forsyth County Jail, officials said.

"He was very happy," said Fred Harwell, a Winston-Salem lawyer who is
representing Rankin.

Still, Rankin will be closely watched while he awaits trial. His activities
will be monitored electronically. He will have a curfew and will have to
get permission to leave his home, said U.S. district Judge Russell Eliason.

Rankin, who was fired from the sheriff's office Dec. 12, the day he was
arrested, will also have to find a new job. He already had two job offers,
Harwell said.

Authorities allege that Rankin was part of a ring of local law enforcement
officers who trafficked steroids, cocaine and marijuana, threatened
suspects, issued fake search warrants and broke into homes.

When the men appeared for their bond hearing Dec. 19, Harwell had argued
that the current evidence indicates that Rankin's involvement was limited
to the distribution of steroids.

At that time Eliason gave prosecutors three weeks to find more evidence
against Rankin.

Prosecutors said today that they didn't have any additional evidence
against Rankin.