Pubdate: Sat, 17 Jul 2004
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2004 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayettevillenc.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Venita Jenkins
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States)

STATE REVOKES CERTIFICATE OF EX-ROBESON LAWMAN

A former lieutenant with the Robeson County Sheriff's Office is no
longer certified to be a law enforcement officer.

C.T. Strickland's certification was revoked by the Criminal Justice
Training and Standards Commission. The commission oversees the
licensing of law enforcement officers in the state.

Strickland was notified of the committee's decision to revoke his
certification and was given 30 days to respond or appeal the
committee's decision to an administrative law judge, said Noelle
Talley, a spokesman for the Justice Department. Strickland did not
respond to the decision, she said. Talley declined to go into detail
about the grounds of the revocation. She said the matter is a part of
Strickland's personnel file. Strickland, the former supervisor for the
sheriff's drug task force, could not be reached for comment.

A separate agency, the state Sheriff's Education and Training
Standards Commission, began looking into an allegation against
Strickland a year ago. The sheriff's commission is under the state
Justice Department. Officials have declined to comment on the nature
of the investigation. Strickland left the Sheriff's Office on June 27,
2003. He was placed on indefinite leave in early June 2003 because his
credibility had become an issue, Sheriff Glenn Maynor said at the
time. Strickland began working at the Sheriff's Office in 1990.

In September 2002, Superior Court Judge Gregory Weeks threw out
evidence in a drug case after learning that Strickland falsified
information to get a search warrant.

The case involved Christopher Dean Logan and Gary "Pee Wee" McLean.
They were charged with selling cocaine from a home they shared on
Samuel Drive in Red Springs. District Attorney Johnson Britt later
dropped the charges. Strickland told Magistrate Tom Espey that he had
information about drug activity in the home, according to court
records. Strickland said an informant had bought drugs at the home
under his supervision. During a hearing, Weeks heard evidence that the
informant had never worked on any cases with Strickland. Strickland
had met the informant the day before the drug transaction, according
to court documents. The informant had never been in the house and had
never witnessed a drug transaction there, according to the documents.
Weeks ruled that Strickland had "knowingly" provided false information
to Espey to obtain the warrant. Strickland has not been charged with
any criminal violations.
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