AFFADAVIT TELLS TALE OF DRUGS, SALES, THEFTS

Four law enforcement officers jailed on drug charges apparently
shared a common bond of anabolic steroid abuse.

They also routinely robbed drug dealers for cash and drugs they could
sell, sometimes by breaking in and other times by serving false
search warrants, according to an affidavit filed by federal
investigators to obtain a warrant to search. Among those charged are
Sgt. William Rankin Jr., 32, Lt. David Scott Woodall, 34, and Lt.
Douglas Edward Westmoreland, 49, all Davidson County deputies
assigned to the vice-narcotics division.

Also charged was Chris Shetley, an Archdale police patrol sergeant
and former vice officer, and two other men, Wyatt Nathan Kepley and
Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza, who were not law enforcement officers.

Kepley is the son of Davidson County Commissioner Billy Joe Kepley,
who declined to comment about the case Wednesday.

All the suspects were arrested early Wednesday by the FBI and State
Bureau of Investigation on charges of racketeering and possession
with intent to distribute cocaine, marijuana, MDMA (ecstasy),
anabolic steroids and cocaine.

Other charges include laundering money and using firearms in relation
to crimes.

The affidavit and search warrant were released by the U.S. Attorney's
office late Friday afternoon.

The documents reveal that the investigation that led to the arrests
of the officers began with the arrest of another local law
enforcement officer - referred to as "CW-1" - on Nov. 5.

Although the documents do not name the officer, Thomasville police
Sgt. Russell Earl McHenry Jr., 32, was arrested Nov. 5 by State
Bureau of Investigation officials on trafficking and conspiracy to
traffic in ecstasy and marijuana.

McHenry, a Greensboro resident, also was a Thomasville vice-narcotics
officer. His court date has been continued to Feb. 14.

CW-1 was arrested on state drug charges involving MDA/MDMA and
marijuana. He chose to cooperate with investigators. According to the
affidavit, he told them he was "part of an organized criminal
conspiracy" involving "top level officers from several different law
enforcement agencies."

CW-1, Shetley, Rankin and Woodall were tied to Kepley through the
sale and use of anabolic steroids. CW-1 said he first became involved
with the group of officers after Kepley was arrested in California,
cutting off his supply of steroids.

CW-1 said he met Rankin - who was driving a silver four-door Cadillac
used as an undercover car by Davidson County deputies - outside a
topless bar on S. Main Street in High Point in late April.

Rankin allegedly supplied CW-1 with $300 worth of steroids the next day.

CW-1 said he later accompanied Woodall in robbing Kepley's apartment
of cash and drugs after serving Kepley's girlfriend with a false
warrant July 10 while Kepley was in California for a court appearance.

The affidavit states that Rankin, Westmoreland and Woodall had stolen
more than $160,000 in cash from Kepley's residence on three earlier
break-ins.

According to the documents, Woodall's source for marijuana and
cocaine was Acosta-Soza, who made regular trips to Texas to buy
drugs. Acosta-Soza was arrested in mid-October. Authorities seized
about $48,000 of Woodall's cocaine.

Woodall bailed Acosta-Soza out of jail, later gave him $32,000 to go
to Texas and buy more drugs and threatened to kill Acosta-Soza's
children if he didn't return, the document said.

Westmoreland's girlfriend, who is mentioned in the document but not
named, is a prior informant.

At one point, Woodall and Westmoreland became suspicious that Rankin
was informing the Drug Enforcement Agency, and they discussed the
possibility of killing him, according to the documents.

Also included in the documents is a reference to a visit to the High
Point Police Department in April. Woodall went to the department to
pick up a Federal Express package that had been sent to police
because it contained steroids.

An unnamed High Point detective thought it was unusual for a Davidson
County investigator to pick up the package because that department
did not routinely pursue steroids cases.

Shetley thought the High Point detective contacted the FBI to
identify the source of the steroids in California and the recipient
in Lexington.

The group of officers met to discuss the threat of a federal
investigation, the documents said. Woodall allegedly told CW-1 not to
worry because they would turn the package in as evidenceas if it was
part of a normal drug investigation.

CW-1 also told investigators that at one point a man had given
Sheriff Gerald K. Hege information about Woodall "being dirty." CW-1
said Westmoreland and Woodall planted a pound of marijuana on the man
and charged him with possession.

Another deputy "was reportedly frightened" by the subsequent beating
Woodall and Westmoreland gave the man.

In late November, Woodall told CW-1 that Hege had called him and
Westmoreland into his office. Hege told them he'd heard allegations
that the two were involved with drugs, according to the affidavit.

Hege believed the information about Woodall and Westmoreland "may
have been part of an election year ploy by the NCSBI to cause trouble
for him."

Shetley reportedly drew arrest warrants for possession of marijuana
on a suspect. He later allegedly offered to "make the warrants ...
disappear" for $1,500.

CW-1 told investigators Shetley used $3,000 he seized from a suspect
as a down payment for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

Woodall was said to have used an outbuilding at 1014 Virginia Drive
in Thomasville. He lived part of the time out of the sheriff's
office's Vice-Narcotics Unit trailer off of Old U.S. 29 near
Thomasville, and CW-1 said he often saw Woodall using a Davidson
County undercover van to transport marijuana.

High Point defense attorney Georgia Nixon, who was an assistant
district attorney for Davidson County between 1992-95, said she'd
been hearing stories from clients about the three deputies for a
while.

Clients told her they were searched and the officers found nothing on
them, but they were later served papers for drug offenses.

In other cases, clients had their money seized. Others reported that
the officers seized amounts of controlled substances, but reported
smaller amounts than were seized.

There have also been reports of physical abuse, she said.

She said reports were sporadic in 2000, but a real pattern developed
in the last seven or eight months, she said.

"Every other week, somebody was coming into my office and telling me
something bizarre," Nixon said.

All three officers worked together at the Thomasville Police
Department in the past, she said.

"The problem is, they (vice officers in different law enforcement
agencies) all use each other in undercover sting operations," said
Nixon. "You have to wonder. Are there more?"

Earlier this week, Hege said vice officers are vulnerable because of
the temptations involved with the job.

He could not be reached for comment Friday.