Pubdate: Fri, 28 Oct 2005
Source: Charlotte Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2005 The Charlotte Observer
Contact:  http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/78
Author: Jerry Allegood, Raleigh News & Observer

TOWN'S POLICE CHIEF FACES CRACK CHARGES

Federal Agents Also Arrest Lieutenant After Surveillance Operation

GREENVILLE - The chief of the Bethel Police Department and a 
lieutenant were arrested Thursday on federal charges of distributing 
crack cocaine they took from a truck that federal agents had under 
surveillance.

The charges against Chief Reginald Laverne Roberts, 41, and Lt. 
Jerome Earl Cox, 31, are in criminal complaints filed by federal 
prosecutors. Roberts, who had been chief in the small Pitt County 
town about five years, also was charged with one count of selling a 
firearm to a felon.

After a brief hearing Thursday in federal court, U.S. Magistrate 
Judge David Daniel ordered both held without bond pending a hearing next week.

The drug charge carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and a 
$2 million fine. Roberts faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in 
prison and $250,000 fine on the weapons charge.

News of the arrests quickly spread through the town about 12 miles 
north of Greenville. "It's unbelievable," said Mayor Frank Hemingway.

He said Roberts had been widely praised for ridding the town of crime.

"We bought him an SUV to help with drugs," Hemingway said. "We have 
hardly any crime. People walk on the streets at night."

The town of about 1,850 people has a 10-member police force.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John H. Bennett said the arrests resulted 
from an investigation by the FBI and the Beaufort and Pitt County 
sheriffs departments. Roberts and Cox were arrested at the U.S. 
Marshals Office in Greenville.

"They were asked to come down for another reason," Bennett said.

The Beaufort County Sheriff's Department said in a news release that 
the investigation began three months ago when the department received 
information that Roberts and Cox were involved in distributing drugs 
and selling guns.

The release said department investigators purchased several guns 
Roberts sold to a felon and had evidence that Roberts and Cox had 
distributed crack cocaine in Beaufort County.

According to court documents, the FBI arranged an investigation using 
a man who had provided reliable information in the past. FBI Special 
Agent Dave Cowart said in an affidavit that the witness, whom 
investigators did not name, met Roberts at his home in Winterville on 
Sunday while wearing a concealed recording device.

Roberts was accused of selling the informant a .45 caliber 
semi-automatic pistol for $750 although Roberts knew he was a felon.

The affidavit also said the witness told Roberts and Cox on Monday 
about a pickup truck owned by a drug dealer who had been arrested for 
drunken driving that contained money and drugs. The agent said Cox 
drove Roberts and the witness to a lot in an unmarked police vehicle.

Cowart's affidavit said the vehicle, which was under surveillance, 
contained a black bag with a small amount of cocaine base, scales and 
$2,000 in cash.

He said Roberts and Cox took turns striking the driver's side window 
until it broke, then took the money and drugs. They gave the witness 
the cocaine base and $290 and kept scales and the rest of the money, 
the affidavit said.
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