Pubdate: Sat, 09 Oct 2004 Source: Sanford Herald, The (NC) Copyright: The Sanford Herald 2004 Contact: http://www.sanfordherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1577 Author: Katherine Mcdonald, Herald Staff Writer Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption - United States) EX-COP FACES MORE DRUG CHARGES SANFORD - James Ed Gregory, the former Sanford Police Department officer charged Wednesday with stealing marijuana from the department's evidence room, faces more charges from the Harnett County Sheriff's Department. Gregory was originally charged by the Sanford police with felony larceny for the alleged theft of two pounds of marijuana, valued at $2,000. According to Harnett County Sheriff Larry Rollins, Gregory will be charged by his department with one count of selling and delivering marijuana and one count of possession with intent to sell. Both charges are felonies. Rollins said that Gregory's arrest grew out of a tip provided to the Harnett County Drug Task Force. The investigation, which took two months, was a collaborative effort of the sheriff's department, the Sanford Police Department and the State Bureau of Investigation. "Like any profession, when one of your own crosses the line, some look at it as a black mark against you. But we look at it as, we pursued it," Rollins said. "(Sanford Police Chief Ronnie) Yarborough's got a fine department and this is just one bad apple. They've cleaned that bad apple out now." The theft of the drug is alleged to have occurred on March 1, when Gregory was a member of the Sanford-Lee County Drug Unit. Yarborough said that the marijuana was no longer needed as evidence in a case and was going to be destroyed. Gregory, 37, joined the police department in March 1990 as a full-time officer. In March 2000, he joined the Lee County Probation Department. He remained on reserve status with the police, working with the city-county drug unit. In August, he returned to full-time status with the police department as a uniformed officer. On Wednesday, the day of his arrest, Capt. Kevin Gray of the department's internal affairs division, told The Herald that Gregory was no longer with the department. Gray declined to say whether Gregory had been fired or resigned, based on personnel confidentiality rules. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek