RALEIGH, N.C. – More than a dozen law enforcement officers, including 11 in North Carolina, have been arrested in a government sting that included the FBI, the government announced Thursday.
Thomas Walker, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said multiple people were arrested Thursday morning in a major sting of cocaine and heroin operations. Those arrested include five current members of the Northampton County sheriff’s office. They were charged with trafficking cocaine and heroin up and down the I-95 corridor.
Walker said there were arrests at an airport in Halifax County and a warehouse in Rocky Mount. A second group was arrested at a warehouse in Rocky Mount. The undercover operation has been ongoing for about a year and a half.
Arrested were:
- Eight current or former officers
- Three correctional officers
- Two Virginia prison employees
- One 911 dispatcher in Northampton County
“This crime is a breach of the public’s trust,” said John Strong, a special agent for the North Carolina FBI. Strong said law enforcement officials used their positions “to line their own pockets.” He added that “Public corruption will not be tolerated.”
Asked the reaction by FBI officers to the charges that officers were involved in this, Strong said that the reaction was “shock and disbelief.”
Also shocked was Northampton County Sheriff Jack Smith.
“I’m hurt and surprised,” he told WNCN. “I’m shocked and appalled at these types of indictments. We can’t tolerate this type of behavior, especially from law enforcement.”
Smith said Northampton has 35 deputies, plus some part-time employees, and the loss of five deputies “is a big blow.”
Smith said he found out about the arrests Thursday morning.
“They’ve let me down. They’ve let the sheriff’s office down,” Smith said. “They’ve let the citizens down as well as their families. Most of them have children and they’ve let the down as well.”
Walker said the investigation is ongoing and other arrests are possible.
Arrested were:
- Ikeisha Jacobs, 32, a deputy with the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office
- Jason Boon, 29, a Northampton deputy
- Jimmy Pair, 48, a Northampton deputy
- Curtis Boone, 31, a Northampton deputy
- Thomas Jefferson Allen II, 37, a Northampton deputy
- Wardie Vincent Jr., 35, a former Northampton deputy
- Cory Jackson, 43, formerly with the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office
- Antonio Tillmon, 31, a Windsor City policeman
- Adrienne Moody, 39, a North Carolina correctional officer
- Alaina Sue Kamling, 27, a North Carolina correctional officer
- Kavon Phillips, 25, a North Carolina correctional officer
- Lann Tjuan Clanton, 36, a correctional officer with the Virginia Department of Corrections
- Alphonso Ponton, 42, a Virginia correctional officer
- Tosha Dailey, 31, a 911 dispatch operator for Northampton County
- Crystal Pierce, 31, of Raleigh
http://www.wncn.com/story/28943161/fbi-announces-arrests-of-nc-officers
This is a Nation wide problem in America. If you travel the American highway’s much. It does not take long to figure out what small towns are safe house towns for drug runners with the mayors permission and kick back to him. Were the cops allow there friends that pay to pass on down the road. Then the cops are up the truckdrivers ask like corncobs if they see or try to say anything about such. been going on for many years. Only way drugs travel is with cop knowledge and protection in America. Safe houses with city approval in small towns. Along the hyways.
Arrest that Sheriff! 5 Deputies involved and “They let me down”?!? WTF?, We would be murdered in the streets and then slandered in the news!!! A “letdown”?? These people are solely responsible for the drugs on the street in that area and it’s only a letdown? Rico on the Sheriffs office… That’s the most organization I’ve ever seen.
“Smith said Northampton has 35 deputies, plus some part-time employees, and the loss of five deputies “is a big blow.”
Then I guess it’s a damn good thing for you that the rest escaped detection.