Post by WaTcHeR on Jun 20, 2006 16:56:13 GMT -5
06.20.2006 - LUMBERTON, N.C. - A former Robeson County sheriff's deputy remained in custody after a detention hearing Monday on charges he and two other former county drug officers stole thousands of dollars seized in traffic stops.
Officer Steven Ray Lovin appeared before Magistrate Judge William Webb, said Debra Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Lovin was arrested June 9 along with officer Roger Hugh Taylor, 36, and officer Charles Thomas Strickland, 39, who are also former drug enforcement deputies in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.
Their arrests resulted from a 3 1/2-year investigation by federal and state authorities called Operation Tarnished Badge, District Attorney Johnson Britt said Monday.
Four sheriff's deputies and two Lumberton police officers have been arrested as a result of the investigation, Britt said. The arrests have led prosecutors to dismiss more than 300 drug cases, he said.
The investigation started partly because some deputies were spending more than their salaries would justify, Britt said. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a Ford F-250 were seized from Lovin.
"The temptation is great," Britt said. "Police officers don't get paid a lot of money. You can fall into the trap,"
Criminal defense lawyers had said for years their clients told them that Robeson deputies were beating up drug suspects and stealing their money.
In a 1988 hostage-taking that earned national headlines, two men held 20 people at gunpoint inside The Robesonian newspaper until state officials agreed to investigate allegations of corruption including drug dealing by law officers. A state task force determined the allegations to be unfounded.
An indictment unsealed June 9 charged Lovin, Taylor and Strickland firebombed the home of a suspected drug dealer in 1997. Britt said the deputies beat Hubert Ray Locklear, arrested him and forced others out of the house before burning it to the ground. The sheriff's department never investigated the fire, he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes Camden said Taylor paid someone $1,600 to burn down the home of a personal enemy in 1998. When the man's downtown pawnshop was damaged by fire a week later, Taylor paid the arsonist with between 20 and 25 pounds of marijuana, Camden said.
Other charges include six thefts of money at Interstate 95 drug interdiction stops, beatings of drug dealers, and the filing of false vouchers to steal tens of thousands in federal drug-seizure money and thousands of dollars from county taxpayers.
The indictment said Taylor was giving informants large quantities of drugs in 1997 - 3 ounces of cocaine on one occasion and two trash bags of marijuana in another.
www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14856034.htm
Officer Steven Ray Lovin appeared before Magistrate Judge William Webb, said Debra Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Lovin was arrested June 9 along with officer Roger Hugh Taylor, 36, and officer Charles Thomas Strickland, 39, who are also former drug enforcement deputies in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.
Their arrests resulted from a 3 1/2-year investigation by federal and state authorities called Operation Tarnished Badge, District Attorney Johnson Britt said Monday.
Four sheriff's deputies and two Lumberton police officers have been arrested as a result of the investigation, Britt said. The arrests have led prosecutors to dismiss more than 300 drug cases, he said.
The investigation started partly because some deputies were spending more than their salaries would justify, Britt said. A Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a Ford F-250 were seized from Lovin.
"The temptation is great," Britt said. "Police officers don't get paid a lot of money. You can fall into the trap,"
Criminal defense lawyers had said for years their clients told them that Robeson deputies were beating up drug suspects and stealing their money.
In a 1988 hostage-taking that earned national headlines, two men held 20 people at gunpoint inside The Robesonian newspaper until state officials agreed to investigate allegations of corruption including drug dealing by law officers. A state task force determined the allegations to be unfounded.
An indictment unsealed June 9 charged Lovin, Taylor and Strickland firebombed the home of a suspected drug dealer in 1997. Britt said the deputies beat Hubert Ray Locklear, arrested him and forced others out of the house before burning it to the ground. The sheriff's department never investigated the fire, he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes Camden said Taylor paid someone $1,600 to burn down the home of a personal enemy in 1998. When the man's downtown pawnshop was damaged by fire a week later, Taylor paid the arsonist with between 20 and 25 pounds of marijuana, Camden said.
Other charges include six thefts of money at Interstate 95 drug interdiction stops, beatings of drug dealers, and the filing of false vouchers to steal tens of thousands in federal drug-seizure money and thousands of dollars from county taxpayers.
The indictment said Taylor was giving informants large quantities of drugs in 1997 - 3 ounces of cocaine on one occasion and two trash bags of marijuana in another.
www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/14856034.htm