Pubdate: Fri, 27 May 2005
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2005 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily 
home delivery circulation area.
Author: Patrick Wilson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SBI PROBE OF DETECTIVE CAUSES 3 CASE DISMISSALS

Charges Of Drug Trafficking Dropped In Forsyth

Police officials would say little yesterday about the allegations against a 
High Point police detective under state investigation, but court papers say 
that the case in which he is accused of lying involved three Forsyth County 
residents charged with cocaine trafficking.

District Attorney Tom Keith of Forsyth County dropped felony charges 
against the defendants Wednesday and ordered them released from jail.

Detective Scott M. Gordon of the High Point Police Department was put on 
leave while the State Bureau of Investigation looks into allegations that 
he gave false information to a judicial official in a court document.

High Point police are also doing an internal investigation, the department 
said in a statement Wednesday.

Police Chief Jim Fealy said he could not discuss details of the case until 
the investigations are complete. The police statement said that a police 
supervisor and other officers found possible inconsistencies in the 
officer's report, and took the information to Fealy. "We had a bad incident 
happen, and folks did the right things with it," Fealy said.

The case began as a drug investigation in which High Point police gave 
information to detectives with the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, said 
sheriff's Lt. Brad Stanley.

Three people were arrested on May 11 as part of the investigation. Gordon 
and a Forsyth detective searched the house of one of them, Christie Lynn 
Moncus, 29, of 2452 Wickham Road, outside Kernersville.

The search warrant was issued by a judge in Guilford County at the request 
of Gordon, who typed up a sworn statement giving reasons why he said he 
needed to search Moncus' house.

According to the warrant, a confidential police source told Gordon that a 
woman named Christie had a large amount of cocaine at the house. The source 
said that cocaine had been displayed for sale.

"The confidentiality of the source is necessary in that the source fears 
physical reprisal should his/her identity become known," the warrant said. 
"This would negate any future use of the source by the High Point Police 
Department."

In the warrant, Gordon said he was familiar with Moncus from a previous 
investigation. She was charged with trafficking in cocaine in January 2004 
in Guilford County.

Gordon and a Forsyth sheriff's detective searched the house May 10. 
According to the warrant, they confiscated a white rocklike substance, 
pills, bags with white powder residue, straws, scales, and $8,110 in cash, 
among other items.

Moncus was charged on May 11 with trafficking in cocaine, possession with 
intent to manufacture, sell or deliver cocaine and maintaining a house for 
drug purposes. Karen E. Jankowski, 29, who lives at the same address, was 
charged with trafficking in cocaine, possession with intent to manufacture, 
sell or deliver cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Moncus' boyfriend, Ashley J. Fitzgerald, 23, of Thomasville was charged 
with trafficking in cocaine and possession with intent to manufacture, sell 
or deliver cocaine.

All three were released from the Forsyth County Jail on Wednesday after 
Keith decided to drop the charges. Keith is out of town and was not 
available for comment.

Frank Brown, the agent in charge of the SBI's Northern Piedmont District in 
Greensboro, declined to comment on the investigation. An SBI investigation 
is common when a police officer is accused of breaking the law, because 
police departments often want an independent agency to investigate.

Gordon has been a police officer since 1993, according to the search 
warrant. He is the police-dog handler in the High Point vice unit, has 
assisted with at least 40 search warrants involving drug houses and 
executed 13 search warrants, according to the warrant. "The applicant has 
either made or assisted with over 300 drug arrests during his tenure in 
this specialized unit," the warrant said.
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