Pubdate: Sat, 26 Jan 2002 Source: Dispatch, The (NC) Copyright: 2002, The Lexington Dispatch Contact: http://www.the-dispatch.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1583 Author: Cherriece Wright FORMER DEPUTIES FACE ADDITIONAL FEDERAL CHARGES Three former Davidson County Sheriff's Office vice/narcotics deputies and others jailed last month on federal drug distribution charges now face additional charges, including alleged civil rights violations and extortion. Lt. David Scott Woodall, Lt. Douglas Edward Westmoreland and Sgt. William Monroe Rankin, who was released earlier this month on a $50,000 secured bond, each face a civil rights violation charge for an alleged illegal search of Wyatt Nathan Kepley's home. Kepley, a Lexington area resident, was among those indicted with the three deputies last month. Woodall also faces two counts of extortion and a count of possessing a firearm in the act of committing a felony, while Westmoreland and former Archdale police Sgt. Christopher James Shetley, another of the defendant's indicted in December, face one charge of extortion each. U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner announced Friday the return of a superseding indictment listing new charges against five of the six men charged under the initial indictments filed last month. The new indictment repeats the drug distribution charge against Woodall, Westmoreland, Rankin, Kepley, Shetley and Lexington area resident Marco Aurelio Acosta Soza, while also adding forfeiture allegations against all but Acosta Soza, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Greensboro. Court records show authorities plan to seize money, cars and motorcycles from the defendants. The new indictment also alleges that Woodall, Westmoreland and Rankin violated Kepley's rights when they used a search warrant they knew to be, "groundless, illegal and not supported by probable cause" and seized property from Kepley's home in May 2000. Also, Woodall and Westmoreland allegedly extorted about $2,500 from a man using their offices, threats of violence and intimidation against the alleged victim in October, and Woodall incurred a second charge of extortion by allegedly taking another $600 from a man on Nov. 2. Woodall allegedly committed the extortion while armed with a handgun in violation of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, according to a count of the indictment. Kepley faces an additional charge of possession of a firearm by a felon, which stems from a Sept. 12 conviction in a San Diego County (Calif.) Superior Court. Kepley was convicted of transporting a controlled substance while in possession of a .45-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol. No new charges were filed against Acosta Soza. Rankin, Woodall and Westmoreland are scheduled to be arraigned on the charges the week of Feb. 4. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth