Pubdate: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 Source: News & Observer (NC) Copyright: 2002 The News and Observer Publishing Company Contact: http://www.news-observer.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304 Author: Angela Heywood Bible, Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) 3 GET PRISON TERMS IN DRUG DIG Marijuana Case Leaves a Mystery GREENSBORO - Gary Leslie Causey wept in U.S. District Court on Tuesday afternoon as he talked about unearthing marijuana from the old Chatham County landfill in October 2000 to help his disabled father make money. "My dad was going on this dig, and I went to dig for him," Causey, 39, said after sipping some water. "I wasn't going to get any of it. Financially I couldn't help him no more than I already was." Judge William L. Osteen sentenced Causey, of Snow Camp, to 17 months in prison and three years of probation for conspiracy to possess and distribute more than 110 pounds of marijuana. His brother-in-law, James Benjamin Harris, 36, of Snow Camp, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and three years of probation, and was ordered to undergo substance abuse treatment for the same crime. Both men must report to prison by Oct. 15 at noon. Jody Mitchell Brafford, 31, of Goldston was sentenced to three years of probation and 12 successive weekends in jail, and ordered to undergo substance abuse treatment, complete 360 hours of community service and pay a $2,500 fine for distributing about 80 pounds of marijuana. In May, Causey and Harris pleaded guilty to digging up 258 pounds of marijuana from the landfill one night in October 2000 with David Wayne Stout, who was convicted by a jury last month; Causey's father, Ted, who has since died; and a fifth man who hasn't been indicted. Brafford, who drew a map for the others, pleaded guilty to unearthing marijuana three times from the same shallow pit. The defendants' attorneys asked Osteen to consider their clients' crime as part of a much bigger picture -- that of 5,000 pounds of marijuana evidence stolen from the Chatham County sheriff. The drugs, which were confiscated in February 2000 in a sting near Siler City, were stored in an old Army truck parked behind the sheriff's department. When deputies noticed seven months later that two tons of the marijuana had been stolen, they enlisted Brafford, a backhoe driver, to help them bury the remaining one-fifth undestroyed at the old county landfill. "Had such a tempting proposition not been presented," attorney Benjamin Porter said of Brafford, "he wouldn't have gone out of his way to do something like this. He saw an opportunity to make money." Though he can't prove it, Thomas Cochran, Harris' attorney, said, "I think all of us firmly believe that there was someone in the sheriff's department that made arrangements for [the marijuana] to disappear." Michael Grace, Causey's attorney, called the defendants "three ... guys who made a terrible call." Because the marijuana was dumped publicly, it enticed the men to do something stupid, he said. But the law enforcement officers entrusted to handle the drugs walked away scot-free, and more than 4,600 pounds of the dope remains unaccounted for, he said. "This case should not be sentenced in a vacuum," Grace said. "The people [of Chatham County] are just incensed that this is where it ends up. No one has a clue where [the marijuana] is." Osteen, however, said the acts of Chatham County deputies did not diminish the harshness of the defendants' crimes. "Everybody knows that if you're going to get and sell marijuana, it's likely to end up in the hands of children," Osteen said. "Do not expect this court to take a position that because a law enforcement officer initiated it, these men are not responsible for their acts." All three attorneys contended their clients deserved leniency because they had cooperated fully with the FBI. When Harris was caught trying to sell about 50 pounds of the marijuana in December 2000, he immediately turned in his co-conspirators. Then, Harris, Causey and Brafford testified against Stout at his trial last month. All three wore hidden microphones to trap other people. "If Mr. Harris had not said a word, he would be the only one here, and he would be sentenced under the guidelines for only a few pounds of marijuana," Cochran said. "And that would be it." Harris, whose job is burying telephone lines, told the court he regretted having anything to do with the marijuana. "I did it mainly because of financial difficulties," he said. "I hope by my cooperation I've done right." Brafford, a self-employed painter and turkey farmer whose wife is pregnant with their third child, apologized for the trouble he had caused. "Your honor, Mr. Brafford is before you remorseful and embarrassed for his conduct in this case," his attorney said. "But for this particular act, he's a very upstanding citizen and a hard-working person." Causey, Grace said, not only helped the FBI with this case, but he provided "scads of information" to authorities about other drugs in Chatham County and an unrelated murder. Harris' and Causey's attorneys maintained that their clients should be punished for possessing only one-fifth of the entire stash, since the five men agreed to split the marijuana equally. Osteen, however, ruled that the men were responsible for all 258 pounds, since they dug, transported, weighed and agreed to have the drugs cleaned together. Osteen, who urged anyone in Chatham County who knows about the stolen marijuana to come forward, said there would probably be many people who left court Tuesday saying, "Why can law enforcement officers get away with it and good people can't?" "I can only deal with those people who come before me and the circumstances of their case," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager