Pubdate: Fri,  7 Dec 2001
Source: Sanford Herald, The (NC)
Copyright: The Sanford Herald 2001
Contact:  http://www.sanfordherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1577
Author: Sara Griffitt, Herald Staff Writer

DEPUTY: ALERTING FBI GOT HIM FIRED

Chatham Lawsuit Amended To Include Chief Deputy As Well As Sheriff

SANFORD - In an amended lawsuit filed in Chatham County District Court 
Wednesday, former Chatham County Sheriff's Sgt. Dan Phillips alleged that 
he was fired after he helped alert the FBI that more than 5,000 pounds of 
confiscated marijuana was missing from the sheriff's department.

An addendum to the lawsuit includes a motion to compel the testimony of 
Sheriff Ike Gray and Chief Deputy Randy Keck regarding the missing 
marijuana. Gray's and Keck's attorneys instructed them not to answer 
several questions on the subject during depositions taken earlier this 
year, Phillips' attorney Al McSurely said.

The original lawsuit, filed Feb. 2, named Gray as the sole defendant and 
alleged that Gray fired Phillips because Phillips had knowledge of racist 
incidents at Chatham Central High School in Bear Creek.

Phillips, who served as a school resource officer at that school for 
several months, said he was fired the day after he was asked to take a lie 
detector test about the origins of a tape that contained racist statements 
allegedly made by former Chatham Central principal William "Buddy" Fowler.

Phillips has denied making the tape, and said he told Keck that he would 
take a lie detector test if the complainant would also submit to one.

The suit also alleges that Phillips was not allowed to report racial 
incidents that he witnessed at Chatham Central to the U.S. Department of 
Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigators. The OCR investigators 
were in Chatham County for a complaint filed against the school system in 
mid-1999.

Soon after Phillips filed his suit, Gray's attorney filed a motion to move 
the case to a federal court in Greensboro. Phillips attorney, Al McSurely, 
filed an opposing motion April 4 to keep the case in Chatham County.

On Sept. 27, a federal judge ruled that the case should be heard in Chatham 
County.

In the amended lawsuit, Keck is added as a defendant. The suit claims that 
Phillips was also fired because he helped report to the FBI that more than 
3,000 pounds of marijuana had been stolen from the back of an Army surplus 
truck and 2,000 more pounds had been stolen after it was dug up from where 
it had been buried a county landfill.

The 2.5 tons of marijuana had been confiscated by the sheriff's department 
in February 2000 in a drug bust near Siler City.

At the time of the bust, and when the marijuana was discovered missing 
Sept. 28, 2000, Gray was chief deputy and Keck was head of the department's 
narcotics unit. Don Whitt, who was sheriff at the time, retired for health 
reasons in December 2000, and Gray and Keck moved to their current positions.

The lawsuit also alleges that Gray and Keck concealed the thefts until 
after they were placed in their current positions.

"There are two themes in this case. First, that tape of the principal and, 
then, the missing marijuana from the sheriff's department," McSurely said 
earlier. "We are saying that Phillips was unfairly targeted in both these 
cases ... because he upset various political figures in the county."

The amended lawsuit states that Phillips took an informant to Asheboro to 
meet with FBI officials about the missing marijuana in mid-December 2000. 
The suit also alleges that the same informant attempted to give the 
information to Keck, but he would not return phone calls.

No arrests have been made in the marijuana thefts, but the FBI announced 
earlier this year they have suspects.

Gray did not return telephone calls Thursday. Keck is out of town and is 
not expected to return until Monday.
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