Pubdate: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC) Copyright: 2001 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc Contact: http://www.journalnow.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504 Author: Dierdre Fernandes HEGE TO TOUGHEN DRUG TESTING FOR NEW VICE-NARCOTICS DEPUTIES Drastic Steps Are Needed To Restore Confidence Of Public, Counterparts Say Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Hege outlined a plan to overhaul his vice-narcotics unit yesterday, a week after federal authorities arrested three of his top investigators on drug-distribution charges. Several new deputies have been assigned to the unit. Hege, along with four of his highest-ranking officers, will supervise these deputies, Hege said. The sheriff also will execute search warrants and go on drug raids with his deputies who will undergo more extensive drug testing that will include use of steroids, Hege said. "We're trying to overcome a very bad situation," Hege said. "You've just got to continue on." Three deputies, Lt. David Scott Woodall, 34, Lt.Douglas Edward Westmoreland, 49, and Sgt. William Monroe Rankin, 32, along with Archdale police Sgt. Christopher James Shetley, 35, were arrested last Wednesday by agents from the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation. Wyatt Nathan Kepley, 26, and Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza, 23, who are not in law enforcement, also were arrested. All are charged with distributing drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and steroids. They are being held in Forsyth County Jail. Officials in Davidson and surrounding counties support Hege's reorganization and say the measures are necessary to rebuild the public's confidence in the sheriff's office. "He's on the right track," said Sheriff BJ Barnes of Guilford County. "I think, no I know, because I've spoken to him, that he wishes that he had done this sooner." Barnes, who was elected the same year as Hege in 1994, said he has several safeguards in his department to prevent misconduct by his deputies. His narcotics officers take a drug test every six months; deputies are shifted around so that the same people don't always handle the money and the drugs; and the Guilford County Sheriff's Office has an internal-affairs division that investigates any complaint against an officer, Barnes said. The last time Woodall, Westmoreland and Rankin were tested for drug use was in 1999. The last drug test conducted on a Davidson County deputy was in May, sheriff's officials said. Sheriff's officials don't believe that the deputies are tested for steroids, which is more difficult and more expensive to detect. "We're going to break the bank testing, but we're interested in it," said Davidson County sheriff's Capt. Jody Shoaf, the new public-information officer. "We want it out." The internal-affairs officer at the sheriff's office is also reviewing complaints against the three deputies, Hege said. Those types of changes will help Davidson County Sheriff's Office rebound, Barnes said. "It's a reputation that they're going to have to live down," Barnes said. "But they can do it." Davidson County Commissioner Larry Potts said he is confident that Hege will make sure that the new measures cut down misconduct. "I think they'll work without a doubt because I think the sheriff will make them work," Potts said. "Even though it was an isolated incident ... I think it's an ongoing thing to let (people) know that we are here for you, not to harm you," he said. Still, even with all the additional supervision, Hege said that the bottom line is whether the deputies can be trusted. In a department shaken by the arrests and allegations that the deputies issued fake search warrants, intimidated suspects and broke into homes, trust may be an invaluable commodity. Hege has said he trusted the arrested deputies. More than a year ago, he assigned Woodall to investigate a tip that Kepley was involved in steroids distribution. According to a federal affidavit released last week, Woodall and Kepley worked together. "It's like putting the fox in the hen house," Hege said. "But I had no way of knowing." In late November, when his deputies denied rumors that they were linked to a federal drug probe, Hege said he believed them. Hege denied telling his deputies he thought that the rumors were an SBI ploy to harm him in next year's election, as the federal affidavit alleges. Hege said he tried to call SBI officials about the investigation, but nobody returned his phone calls. "I figured if something was going on the agent would have called me," Hege said. "The key to this is you have to trust someone and the community has to trust us." The SBI would not comment on its role in the continuing investigation. However, officials continue to uncover evidence about the case. This week they discovered $22,000 that belonged to one of the arrested deputies. The deputy had left the money at a friend's house, Hege said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth