First Posted: 1/15/2009
LUMBERTON — The State Bureau of Investigation questioned employees of the Sheriff’s Office this week in what the Robeson County district attorney is calling a “follow-up” to the Operation Tarnished Badge investigation.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Justice, however, says the investigation is a separate from Tarnished Badge.
Sources tell The Robesonian that deputies, lawyers and business owners have been questioned about campaign contributions to the Sheriff’s Office by the State Bureau of Investigation. That is also what has been reported by The Fayetteville Observer.
Sheriff Ken Sealey confirmed the investigation, saying his office is cooperating, but didn’t comment further. He referred questions to the SBI and to Britt.
At least 10 SBI agents — and SBI Director Robin Pendergraft — were in Robeson County on Tuesday where they spent the day interviewing sheriff’s deputies, and county lawyers and business owners about contributions made to the Sheriff’s Office.
Sources confirmed that some of the questions focused on whether individuals made donations or contributions, what they were for, and whether they were used for their intended purpose.
Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Justice, had no comment on the probe, but confirmed that the SBI has an ongoing investigation at the Sheriff’s Office at District Attorney Johnson Britt’s request.
Talley said Britt also requested that the Attorney General’s Office Special Prosecution Unit oversee the investigation. She confirmed that the investigation was separate from Operation Tarnished Badge, but would not comment on allegations that the investigation concerns campaign funds contributed to the Sheriff’s Office.
Operation Tarnished Badge was a federal investigation that led to the prosecution of 23 lawmen, including the former Sheriff Glenn Maynor, who is now in federal prison.
Sealey was appointed by the county Board of Commissioners to replace Maynor when the three-times-elected sheriff resigned because of health reasons in December 2004. Sealey won election in 2006.
“All I know is that the SBI came up here to check out some allegations,” Sealy said this morning. “We welcomed them.”
Lawmen prosecuted in Operation Tarnished Badge were charged with a range of crimes, including conspiracy to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the government, conspiracy to commit satellite piracy, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, and use of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.
Sentences have ranged from a few months to 34 years.
After Maynor was sentenced, federal prosecutors said the Tarnished Badge investigation was not yet closed.
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