Pubdate: Sat, 05 Aug 2006
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2006 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Greg Barnes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/af.htm (Asset Forfeiture)

FORMER DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY

RALEIGH -- A former Robeson County deputy pleaded guilty Friday in 
U.S. District Court to stealing about $25,000 in federal drug 
forfeiture money. Kevin Meares, 37, admitted that he forged the names 
of confidential informants on vouchers used to get the federal money 
from the Robeson County Sheriff's Office.

Drug investigators routinely give informants money to make drug buys. 
But Meares admitted that he filed fraudulent vouchers -- used as an 
accounting measure -- either by forging an informant's signature and 
pocketing all of the money or by making out the vouchers for more 
than he gave his informants.

Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Frank Bradsher said Meares acknowledged 
that C.T. Strickland, his former supervisor in the sheriff's Drug 
Enforcement Division, taught him how to file the fraudulent vouchers. 
Strickland and former drug deputies Steven Lovin and Roger Taylor 
were charged June 9 in a 10-count indictment alleging that the men 
burned two homes and a business, assaulted people, paid informants 
with drugs and stole and laundered public money.

The four are among seven former deputies charged in a three-year 
state and federal investigation called Operation Tarnished Badge. The 
investigation continues. Meares and James Hunt were charged by a bill 
of criminal information and have agreed to testify against other 
former deputies in exchange for their guilty pleas. Hunt pleaded 
guilty last week in U.S. District Court in Wilmington.

Meares and Hunt face up to 20 years in prison. Hunt, who is accused 
of stealing about $160,000 during six drugs stops along Interstate 
95, was ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution. Meares faces fines of 
up to $500,000, as well as three years probation on top of the 
maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Bradshaw said Meares worked as a Fairmont task force officer and had 
a mutual agreement with the Sheriff's Office as a drug investigator. 
He came to work full time with the Sheriff's Office in January 2005 
and resigned in August 2005, after the State Bureau of Investigation 
and the federal Internal Revenue Service seized computers and 
documents from the Sheriff's Office. Meares is accused of stealing 
the federal forfeiture money between 1998 and 2002. His lawyer, 
Rosemary Godwin of Raleigh, said Meares would not comment. After the 
hearing, Meares and family members followed Godwin out of the 
courtroom and into a nearby office.

Drug money seized by the Robeson County Sheriff's Office becomes part 
of a federal forfeiture program. Once the federal government 
determines that the money can be forfeited, 80 percent is returned to 
the Sheriff's Office, which must follow strict spending guidelines. 
Paying informants is allowed under the program.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Evenson declined again Friday to discuss 
details of Operation Tarnished Badge or who else might be charged. 
Johnson Britt, the Robeson County district attorney, confirmed this 
week that the investigation uncovered that some on-duty deputies 
helped former Sheriff Glenn Maynor move into a home and landscape his 
yard about three years ago. County taxpayers paid for the move, Britt 
said. Jim Brown, the assistant Robeson County manager, said no 
determination has been made on whether to require the deputies 
involved to return the money. "We're waiting for all the details to 
come in," Brown said. Another former deputy, Joey Smith, has received 
a target letter saying he is the subject of the investigation and 
asking for his cooperation. Federal court documents show that Smith 
was appointed a lawyer last month. He has not been charged.

Two other former deputies -- J.W. Jacobs and Billy Hunt -- also have 
not been charged, but Britt said he has had to throw out any cases in 
which they served as lead investigators because they would have no 
credibility with jurors. Jacobs was charged in 2003 with conspiracy 
and obstruction charges for his role in allowing a convicted felon to 
carry a gun during a sting operation. He pleaded guilty to a 
misdemeanor and surrendered his law enforcement badge, Britt said.

Billy Hunt was among five deputies who resigned after the state and 
federal investigators seized the computers and documents from the 
Sheriff's Office.
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