Pubdate: Wed,  4 Sep 2002
Source: Herald-Sun, The (Durham, NC)
Copyright: 2002 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: Susan Broili

3 SENTENCED IN CHATHAM MARIJUANA CASE

GREENSBORO -- Two men face jail sentences and another man received a 
probationary sentence Tuesday after they pleaded guilty earlier this year 
to conspiracy to dig up seized marijuana from the Chatham County landfill.

Federal Judge William Osteen sentenced the men, Jody Mitchell Brafford, 
Gary Leslie Causey and James Benjamin Harris, in U.S. Middle District Court 
in Greensboro.

Brafford, who could have received a 14-month prison sentence, received a 
probation of three years and the condition that, over the next six months, 
he must spend 12 successive weekends, from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 a.m. Monday, 
in jail. While Osteen initially said that the jail time would be served in 
Fayetteville, after Brafford's attorney, Benjamin D. Porter, requested it 
be in Lee County, the judge said he would take that under consideration.

The judge also required Brafford, 31, to complete 120 hours of community 
service as part of his probation conditions and pay a $2,500 fine and $100 
special assessment fee.

Brafford, a Chatham County employee, operated the backhoe when the Chatham 
County Sheriff's deputies buried the marijuana in the landfill. In the 
trial of another conspirator, David Wayne Stout, Brafford admitted digging 
up marijuana three times from the landfill and he also gave Stout a map 
showing where the marijuana was buried.

He also said he had made $12,000 from the sale of marijuana he had dug up, 
but that he gave the $12,000 to the FBI after he was caught.

Stout allegedly called his friends, Cary Causey and James Harris, and they 
devised a plan to go to the landfill and dig up the dope. In Stout's trial, 
Harris said that he, Cary Causey, Causey's father, Ted Causey, another man 
and Stout met at Gary Causey's racing shop on the night they planned to dig 
up the marijuana.

Ted Causey, who has since died, drove them in a pickup truck to the 
landfill and dropped them off. The men then walked into the landfill at 
about midnight in October 2000 and spent 2½ hours digging up the marijuana, 
which they put into about 10 seed sacks and took back to the road where Ted 
Causey picked them up and drove them back to Causey's race shop.

The fourth man remains unidentified and has not been charged.

A jury found Stout guilty on Aug. 21; he is being held without bond until 
his sentencing hearing on Nov 15.

Osteen said, in sentencing the three men Tuesday, that he took into 
consideration their testimonies at Stout's trial and their other 
cooperation with the FBI, including wearing wires to obtain information for 
the investigation.

Harris, who could have received a prison sentence of 44 months, was 
sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised 
release that is to include participation in a substance abuse treatment 
program.

The judge did not impose a fine but did require Harris to pay a $100 fee.

Causey, who could have received a prison sentence of 33 months, was 
sentenced to 17 months in prison, followed by supervised release of three 
years; he was required to pay a $100 fee, but no fine.

"He is unable to pay the fine and therefore the court declines to do a 
useless act," Osteen said.

The judge said that Harris, 41, and Causey, 39, were to report to prison at 
noon on Oct. 15.

Before sentencing, the three men apologized.

"I'd just like to apologize for the trouble I've caused," Brafford said.

During the hearing, Brafford's attorney, Benjamin Porter, said that 
Brafford was extremely embarrassed and remorseful and that, according to 
his family, he had always been a hard worker as a painter and a turkey 
farmer. Porter also said that Brafford's wife was expecting another child; 
she wiped away tears when the judge sentenced her husband.

"I would like to tell the court that I do regret having anything to do with 
this," Harris said. "I did it largely because of financial difficulty . I 
hope in my cooperation, I've done right."

"I apologize to the people of Chatham County, my family. This is very out 
of character for me ... I've hurt two years because of it and I'll probably 
hurt for the rest of my life," Causey said.

When Judge Osteen asked Causey why he did it, Causey wiped away tears and 
couldn't speak at first; the judge told him to sit down and had someone 
bring him water. When Causey stood up to continue, he apologized for 
crying, but the judge said he did not need to apologize for that.

"There is no harm and no penalty for crying," Osteen said.

Then, Causey spoke.

"My mom and dad are disabled, and I've worked hard all my life to try to 
help them. My dad was going on this dig and he couldn't dig so I went to 
help him. He has since died from cancer," Causey said.

Causey said that financially he couldn't help his parents anymore and that 
he had participated in the dig to help them; their total income was $800 a 
month.

Earlier, Causey's attorney, Mike Grace, told the judge that Causey had not 
kept any of the marijuana and had not benefited from any sale of it.

"My client's one-fifth was never sold. Mr. Harris sold a portion of the 
drug to an informant, and that's how it came to light," Grace said.

When the judge asked him why it was necessary to assist his disabled father 
to do a criminal act, Causey said: "I made a very bad decision."

During the hearing, Harris' attorney, Tom Cochran, and Grace referred to 
the bigger picture as the context for this case. Since the judge had not 
tried Stout and had no knowledge of the story as to how the marijuana came 
to be buried in the landfill in the first place, the attorneys filled him in.

So, Cochran told the story of how it had all started when law enforcement 
had seized about 5,000 pounds of marijuana.

Grace spoke of what he had been hearing from people in Chatham County.

"They are incensed that out of 5,000 pounds, [Harris, Stout, Brafford, 
Causey] are sentenced for a small part of it ... And, everybody in Chatham 
County thinks it was law enforcement," Grace said, of who is responsible 
for the missing marijuana.

Unanswered questions include who stole about 4,000 pounds of marijuana from 
the old army truck behind the Chatham County Sheriff's Office; why has no 
one been charged with that theft; and why didn't the sheriff's office burn 
the marijuana instead of burying it in the landfill.

During the hearing Tuesday, Osteen chastised a man in the audience who 
mouthed "read the newspaper" at him during the hearing and said he would 
not base any decision on what was in the newspaper.

After sentencing, Osteen called on people to help the U.S. Attorney's 
Office solve the case of the missing marijuana.

"I don't know what happened in Chatham County ... If you know, it may be in 
your best interest and Chatham County's to come forward with what you have 
... I hope you will help to rid whatever you do believe the blight is in 
Chatham County, if this is the case," Osteen said.

U.S. Attorney Cliff Barrett said, during the sentencing hearing, that his 
office is certainly interested in finding out what happened to the missing 
marijuana and continues to investigate.

"There are 4,000 or so other pounds of marijuana missing. That is of utmost 
importance to the Attorney's Office," Barrett said.

In comments after the sentencing, Brafford's mother, Janice Loy, also 
referred to how the sheriff's office had mishandled the marijuana.

"If the drugs hadn't been [in the landfill], it never would have happened. 
I don't think any of the guys would have been involved if it had been 
disposed of properly. I would hope they would continue to investigate," Loy 
said.

"I told the FBI, my son may have done a criminal act, but he is not a 
criminal," Loy said.

Loy said she was thankful for the sentence her son received.

"A lot of prayers have been answered for him," Loy said.
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