Post by WaTcHeR on Jun 15, 2006 10:35:31 GMT -5
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06.15.2006 - Three former deputies with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office were arrested Friday as part of a federal investigation into the theft of thousands of dollars during traffic stops, the delivery of drugs to office informants and the arson of two homes and a business.
Steven Ray Lovin, 36, Charles Thomas "C.T." Strickland, 39, and Roger Hugh Taylor, 36, were named in the federal indictment on arson and racketeering charges unsealed Friday. The arrests came after a three-and-a-half-year investigation by agents with the Internal Revenue Service and State Bureau of Investigation into corruption in the Sheriff's Office, said Frank Whitney, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
"Nothing jeopardizes our personal safety or undermines the enforcement of the law more than illegal conduct of sworn law enforcement officers," Whitney said in a news release.
Friday's indictments add to the already tarnished image of the Sheriff's Office. A detective was arrested last year and accused of participating in two fake drug raids.
Robeson County is 90 miles southwest of Raleigh.
Sheriff Kenneth Sealey, who was appointed sheriff in December 2005, did not respond to requests for comment Friday night. Family members who answered the phones at Strickland's and Taylor's homes declined to comment.
The 29-page indictment unsealed Friday, two days after it was handed down by a federal grand jury, includes accusations that the three former deputies profited from their endeavors and set fire to or arranged for the arson of two homes and a business "to promote a climate of fear in the community."
Lovin, Strickland and Taylor face charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Lovin faces additional charges of theft from programs that receive federal funds in connection with the seizure of money during highway traffic stops, according to the indictment. The racketeering charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Taylor, once a lieutenant with the Sheriff's Office, already is facing 2003 state felony charges of obstructing justice. The charges stem from an investigation into how an undercover informant who was a convicted felon was allowed to carry a gun during a police raid, according to court records and news archives.
Strickland headed the office's drug enforcement division until his resignation after a Superior Court judge learned in 2002 the lieutenant falsified information to obtain a search warrant. Lovin and two other unindicted deputies resigned last year from the office's drug division, The Associated Press reported.
No trial dates have been set.
flyservers.com/members5/policecrime.com/images/a_ThomasStrickland.bmp
06.15.2006 - Three former deputies with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office were arrested Friday as part of a federal investigation into the theft of thousands of dollars during traffic stops, the delivery of drugs to office informants and the arson of two homes and a business.
Steven Ray Lovin, 36, Charles Thomas "C.T." Strickland, 39, and Roger Hugh Taylor, 36, were named in the federal indictment on arson and racketeering charges unsealed Friday. The arrests came after a three-and-a-half-year investigation by agents with the Internal Revenue Service and State Bureau of Investigation into corruption in the Sheriff's Office, said Frank Whitney, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
"Nothing jeopardizes our personal safety or undermines the enforcement of the law more than illegal conduct of sworn law enforcement officers," Whitney said in a news release.
Friday's indictments add to the already tarnished image of the Sheriff's Office. A detective was arrested last year and accused of participating in two fake drug raids.
Robeson County is 90 miles southwest of Raleigh.
Sheriff Kenneth Sealey, who was appointed sheriff in December 2005, did not respond to requests for comment Friday night. Family members who answered the phones at Strickland's and Taylor's homes declined to comment.
The 29-page indictment unsealed Friday, two days after it was handed down by a federal grand jury, includes accusations that the three former deputies profited from their endeavors and set fire to or arranged for the arson of two homes and a business "to promote a climate of fear in the community."
Lovin, Strickland and Taylor face charges of racketeering and racketeering conspiracy under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Lovin faces additional charges of theft from programs that receive federal funds in connection with the seizure of money during highway traffic stops, according to the indictment. The racketeering charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Taylor, once a lieutenant with the Sheriff's Office, already is facing 2003 state felony charges of obstructing justice. The charges stem from an investigation into how an undercover informant who was a convicted felon was allowed to carry a gun during a police raid, according to court records and news archives.
Strickland headed the office's drug enforcement division until his resignation after a Superior Court judge learned in 2002 the lieutenant falsified information to obtain a search warrant. Lovin and two other unindicted deputies resigned last year from the office's drug division, The Associated Press reported.
No trial dates have been set.