Pubdate: Wed, 30 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: William Keesler, The Dispatch
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption)

DRUG SALES ALLEGEDLY REAPED MILLIONS FOR SUSPECTS

Lexington area resident Wyatt Nathan Kepley allegedly received at least $2 
million in cash from a conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs.

Former Davidson County narcotics officers David Scott Woodall and Douglas 
Edward Westmoreland allegedly received at least $250,000 in cash each from 
the same conspiracy.

The figures, which shed a bit more light on the volume of the alleged 
criminal operation, are included in a new indictment issued last Friday by 
a federal grand jury.

The indictment, which supersedes one issued Dec. 7, re-charges the three 
men and three other defendants with conspiracy to distribute cocaine, 
marijuana, steroids and Ecstasy.

The new document also adds six more charges, including civil rights and 
firearm violations and extortion, against individual defendants.

Kepley, Woodall, Westmoreland and their co-defendants - William Monroe 
Rankin, another former narcotics officer with the Davidson County Sheriff's 
Office; former Archdale police Sgt. Christopher James Shetley; and 
Lexington resident Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza - will be re-arraigned on the 
new indictment next week.

The new indictment further orders all of the defendants except Acosta-Soza 
to forfeit proceeds they allegedly received from the conspiracy. Under 
federal law, "proceeds" is a gross, not a net, figure. That means the cash 
amounts that Kepley, Woodall and Westmoreland allegedly received from the 
conspiracy were not necessarily all profit. According to a federal 
affidavit in the case, defendants had to pay suppliers for drugs that they 
sold.

The indictment's forfeiture counts would require Kepley to give up $40,000 
in cash delivered to agents of the FBI and the State Bureau of 
Investigation, $3,500 in cash provided by Kepley, as well as a 2000 Isuzu 
Rodeo.

Woodall would lose $8,696 in cash and Westmoreland would lose $22,500 in 
cash that, according to court testimony, they gave to an individual for 
safekeeping on the eve of their arrests last month. Woodall also would have 
to give up a 2001 American Iron-Horse motorcycle and a 1967 Chevrolet.

The forfeiture counts do not indicate cash proceeds of the same magnitude 
for Rankin or Shetley. The indictment merely directs them to forfeit any 
property derived from or used in the alleged conspiracy.

For Rankin, that includes $9,700 in cash found by federal and state 
investigators at his in-laws' home, where he was living when he was 
arrested, as well as a 1988 Chevrolet truck.

For Shetley, that includes a 2000 Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

The forfeiture counts and the additional charges in the new indictment 
raise the stakes for the defendants.

Woodall faces four additional charges - two counts of extortion, one count 
of carrying a firearm in the commission of a felony and one count of 
violating civil rights (for searching Kepley's apartment with a warrant 
that he, Westmoreland and Woodall allegedly knew to be groundless).

Westmoreland faces two additional charges - violating Kepley's civil rights 
and, while acting with Woodall as a law enforcement officer, extorting 
$2,500 from a suspect.

Rankin faces just the additional civil rights count.

Shetley faces just one additional charge of extortion for allegedly taking 
$2,649 from a suspect during his work as a police officer.

Kepley faces one additional charge - for possession of a handgun by a 
convicted felon.

Potential penalties under the new charges range from one to 20 years in 
prison and $100,000 to $250,000 in fines.

But defense lawyers indicated the additional penalties, under the federal 
sentencing system, would not necessarily add significantly to the potential 
sentence for a conviction on the original drug conspiracy charge - 
imprisonment for 10 years to life and up to $4 million in fines.

Walter Jones of Greensboro, who is representing Shetley, said robbery or 
use of a gun would be considered aggravating factors that could increase a 
sentence for drug conspiracy.

Lynn Klauer, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner, said the 
additional charges were not intended to increase pressure on the defendants 
to cooperate with the government or plead guilty.

"Prosecutors have an obligation to charge crimes that we have evidence of 
and that we think will lead to convictions," Klauer said.

Lexington lawyer Charles Harp II, who represented Westmoreland initially in 
the case, said that was consistent with his experience in federal court.

"Ordinarily, when the federal government charges someone with an offense, 
they will charge them with every offense that they think has been 
committed," Harp said.

Harp said he withdrew as Westmoreland's lawyer because last fall he 
represented a defendant who is now challenging her conviction in a case 
investigated by Woodall, Westmoreland and Rankin.

Urs Gsteiger of Winston-Salem, originally appointed by the court to 
represent Shetley, who then hired Jones, is now representing Westmoreland.

Several defense lawyers declined to comment on the new indictment, saying 
they had not had a chance to review it.

Jones said the new indictment was not a surprise, since prosecutors had 
hinted in court that more charges would be coming. He and Gsteiger said 
they plan to enter pleas of innocent for their clients at next week's 
arraignment.

As for scheduling, the new indictment "basically starts a new process," 
Klauer said. Trial, originally scheduled for Feb. 11, will be delayed at 
least until March, and a judge or magistrate will probably set a new 
schedule for pre-trial proceedings next week.

Said Jones: "We're really in many respects starting from scratch."
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