Pubdate: Tue, 23 Sep 2003 Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) Copyright: 2003 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.journalnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504 Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily home delivery circulation area. Author: Paul Garber, Journal Reporter Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) IMPRISONED EX-DEPUTY APPARENTLY AIDED INVESTIGATORS DURING THEIR PROBE OF HEGE Greensboro In September 2000, Darick Lynn Owens was arrested on felony drug charges after marijuana and ecstasy were found under the driver's seat of his car. The charges were dropped last year after one of his accusers, Deputy David Scott Woodall of the Davidson County Sheriff's Office, was himself charged with drug crimes as part of a federal investigation into cocaine, marijuana and steroid distribution in the area. During the fallout over Sheriff Gerald Hege's arrest last week, Owens filed a $100,000 civil lawsuit in federal court in Greensboro against Woodall and his former boss accusing Woodall of planting the evidence and Hege of failing to adequately train and supervise his employee. Woodall, considered by federal prosecutors to be the ringleader of the drug-distribution ring, is serving a 27-year sentence, the longest of any of the five law-enforcement officers charged in the scheme. Woodall filed paperwork in August asking that his sentence be thrown out or reduced in part because he has cooperated with investigators. One of the investigations mentioned in court documents filed by Woodall was an investigation of Hege. According to Owens' lawsuit, Woodall gave marijuana and ecstasy to an unidentified person to plant in Owens' car Sept. 16, 2000. Woodall then told another deputy that he had received a CrimeStopper's tip that there was a large quantity of drugs in Owens' car. The deputy searched the car and found nothing. The next day, Woodall told the deputy he got another CrimeStoppers tip with the same information. He and the deputy went to Owens' address and asked him if they could search his car again. Owens agreed to the search but told the deputies that if there were drugs there they were 'planted,' or placed there by someone else, according to the lawsuit. The drugs were found and Owens was arrested and spent 50 days in jail. In March of 2002, his case was dismissed at the request of Garry Frank, the district attorney for Davidson County, in the wake of the arrest of Woodall and fellow deputies Douglas Edward Westmoreland and William Rankin on drug and conspiracy charges. According to the lawsuit, Woodall violated Owens' right to due process of the law. The lawsuit also criticizes Hege - who was suspended last week in the wake of 15 felony charges - for not taking any action against Woodall even though he knew or should have known of Woodall's 'illegal propensities' before Owens' arrest. Owens' attorney, David B. Smith of Greensboro, declined to comment. Woodall filed a motion last month asking that his sentence be either set aside, reduced or recalculated because of what he now considers to be bad legal advice. According to court documents, Woodall argues that he would not have pleaded guilty had he known that in doing so he would not be given credit for his 'substantial assistance' with investigators. Among his arguments, Woodall contends that Lisa Costner - his attorney at the time - failed to ensure that Woodall would be granted consideration by the court 'in the event that (Woodall) continued to cooperate in the investigation of Gerald Keith Hege Sr., as it was proposed that if the government was successful in obtaining an indictment against 'Hege' that (Woodall's) testimony would be needed in the event that 'Mr. Hege' exercised his right to trial,' according to court documents. In affidavits in support of Hege's removal from office, three deputies testified that Hege believed the former deputies were talking to investigators about him. Woodall's court filings appear to be the first court documents to show that Hege was correct about that. Costner said she disagreed with the allegation that she did not properly represent Woodall, but said she was not surprised that he filed such a motion given that they are commonly filed by people in federal custody. Woodall's attorney, Eugene Metcalf, declined to comment on either the lawsuit or the motion regarding his prison sentence. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake