DRUG OFFICER PROBE COULD LEAD TO MORE CHARGES

WINSTON-SALEM - An investigation that led to the indictment of four
police officers, including three Davidson County narcotics officers,
is continuing and could lead to more charges and additional
defendants, federal authorities said during court proceedings
Wednesday.

During a detention hearing for the four officers and two civilian
residents of the Lexington area, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra J.
Hairston noted that there is evidence that law enforcement officers
violated the Hobbs Act by abusing their authority.

She also said prosecutors are considering filing a firearms charge
against Wyatt Nathan Kepley, one of the civilian defendants.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Russell A. Eliason called the potential Hobbs
Act violations the "most disturbing part of the case."

A federal affidavit made public last week contains evidence that
various police defendants fabricated search warrants, planted
evidence, kept drugs and money they seized during arrests, and
attempted to extort more money from the people they arrested.

"That so violated the law enforcement system and so puts into doubt
what law enforcement stands for, I just cannot imagine the citizens
of North Carolina would want to let law enforcement officers out,"
Eliason said.

He ordered that all six defendants continue to be jailed without bond
while awaiting trial on conspiracy charges to distribute cocaine,
marijuana, Ecstasy and steroids.

However, he said he would consider a pre-trial release for former
Sgt. William Monroe Rankin of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office if
investigators cannot find additional information about Rankin by Jan.
7. Under questioning from Winston-Salem lawyer Fred Harwell Jr., FBI
Special Agent Philip A. Celestini acknowledged that no evidence so
far links Rankin to sales of cocaine, marijuana or Ecstasy.

Celestini testified that a search of the home of Rankin's in-laws,
where his family is staying while building a house of their own,
produced 16 firearms and $9,700 in cash, but Harwell emphasized the
house that was searched belongs to someone else.

However, Celestini said agents also searched an outbuilding on the
property, with Rankin's permission, and found an unspecified quantity
of what appears to be steroids.

The federal affidavit also alleged that Rankin joined former 1st Lt.
David Scott Woodall and Lt. Douglas Edward Westmoreland of the
sheriff's office in breaking into an apartment used by Kepley and
stealing steroids and more than $160,000 in cash.

While expressing concern about those allegations, Eliason also
mentioned allegations in the affidavit that Woodall and Westmoreland
discussed killing Rankin out of fear that Rankin might crack under
questioning by state or federal investigators.

"It may have been because he is a person who has some scruples,"
Eliason said. "I don't know."

Authorities held a detention hearing Wednesday morning just for Marco
Aurelio Acosta-Soza, a Lexington resident from Mexico who was
arrested Dec. 11, the night before the arrests of the other five
defendants.

They held a combined detention hearing Wednesday afternoon for the
other five defendants.

All six defendants entered pleas of not guilty.

A woman identified as Soza's wife and a small child attended the
morning hearing in the federal court building in downtown
Winston-Salem. In the afternoon, more than 70 family members and
friends of the other five defendants packed a small courtroom, and
other supporters waited outside.

Amid heavy security, there was absolute silence as marshals entered
with the four former officers and Kepley. The officers wore orange
Forsyth County Detention Center jump suits, and Kepley wore a blue
one. All were handcuffed and had their feet shackled.

Kepley, 26, son of Davidson County Commissioner Billy Joe Kepley,
smiled grimly at his older sister, who was sitting with her parents
and a minister. She smiled grimly back.

Testimony indicated the police officers, for their safety, are in
"lock down" to keep them segregated from the general population in
the Forsyth jail. The defendants' families had hoped their show of
support would convince Eliason to release them.

Their lawyers argued that relatives would serve as custodians for
them and put up property bonds and that job offers were waiting. Doug
Westmoreland's brother, Nelson Westmoreland, put on the witness stand
by Lexington lawyer Charles Harp II, promised to make sure his
brother returned for future court hearings.

But Eliason said in most cases the defendants failed to overcome a
presumption that federal law creates in favor of detention.

In Westmoreland's case, Celestini testified that an individual had
come forward after the officers' arrests and turned in a cellular
telephone box marked "Doug" and containing $22,500 in cash. The
individual said Westmoreland gave him the box the night before the
arrests.

When agents went to the individual's residence, Celestini said, the
person retrieved a second box from under the house marked "Woody"
that contained $8,690 in cash.

The individual also pulled $500 from his wallet that he said he had
taken from one of the two boxes, Celestini said.

Eliason said Westmoreland did not reveal the cash during an initial
appearance last week that focused partly on his financial assets.

"I'm not going to take his word," Eliason said. "He's already lied to me."

After the hearing, families and friends gathered in groups outside
the court building and comforted each other. Some cried. Some prayed.

During the hearing, Eliason several times used strong language in
talking about the defendants, especially in expressing concern about
the alleged actions of the officers.

He called Kepley a "cash cow" or a "cash bull" for the three county
narcotics officers, who allegedly robbed him regularly.

After Greensboro lawyer Walter Jones noted that his client, former
Archdale police Sgt. Christopher James Shetley, is a minister's son,
Eliason said Shetley had "soiled his own nest" by allegedly involving
his brother, described as an unindicted co-conspirator, in the
criminal operation. The family appeared to have "two Judases" in it,
Eliason said.

Under cross-examination, Celestini acknowledged that the federal
affidavit was based for the most part on information of a single
confidential witness, referred to as CW-1.

As described in the affidavit, CW-1 bears several similarities to
Thomasville police Sgt. Russell Earl McHenry Jr., who was charged
Nov. 5 on Ecstasy trafficking charges.

Celestini testified that since last week's arrests, CW-1 has reported
receiving a threat from a business associate of Shetley's brother.
CW-1 said the business associate used the words "Snitches get
stitches."

Celestini acknowledged there is no evidence that Shetley himself was
involved in the threat. But agents are investigating further, he said.