Pubdate: Wed, 06 Sep 2006 Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC) Copyright: 2006 Fayetteville Observer Contact: http://www.fayettevillenc.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150 Author: Greg Barnes FORMER ROBESON COUNTY DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY A fourth former Robeson County deputy has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a federal and state investigation called Operation Tarnished Badge. Joey Brian Smith, 35, of Lumberton, pleaded guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court in Elizabeth City to conspiring to launder money, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh. Smith pleaded guilty to misappropriating about $4,000 in federal equitable sharing funds - money seized by law enforcement officers from drug dealers. The money is turned over to the federal government, which redistributes about 80 percent of it to the local departments that seized it. Smith could not be reached for comment. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years' supervised probation, and a fine of up to $500,000 or twice the amount involved in the money-laundering scheme. As part of his plea, Smith agreed to waive indictment by a federal grand jury. He worked for the Sheriff's Office from September 1995 to May 2005. Smith's guilty plea follows those from former deputies James O. Hunt, Kevin Meares and Patrick Ferguson. Hunt, Meares and Smith worked in the sheriff's Drug Enforcement Division. Ferguson served as a juvenile detective under Sheriff Kenneth Sealey. The federal Internal Revenue Service and the State Bureau of Investigation have been investigating corruption in the Robeson County Sheriff's Office for more than three years. In June, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the indictments of former deputies Roger Taylor, C.T. Strickland and Steven Lovin. All three worked in the Drug Enforcement Division under former Sheriff Glenn Maynor. Their trial has been scheduled for December. Maynor resigned as sheriff in December 2004, citing health reasons. Hunt pleaded guilty in July to stealing more than $150,000 during drug stops on Interstate 95 and agreed to testify against other deputies. He acknowledged that he and Lovin stole money seized during drug interdiction traffic stops along Interstate 95. Meares pleaded guilty in August to stealing about $25,000 in federal equity sharing funds. Ferguson pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to kidnap two Virginia men and use of a firearm during a crime. Another former deputy, Vincent Sinclair, is also accused of kidnapping the two Virginia men, as well as committing other crimes. A trial is pending for Sinclair, who was fired from the Sheriff's Office shortly after his arrest in May 2005. Two former Lumberton police officers - Leon Oxendine and James Jordan - - have also been charged since Operation Tarnished Badge began. The two officers were accused of having an informant plant a computer disk containing an image of a counterfeit $100 bill at the home of a suspected drug dealer. Jordan pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was stripped of his law enforcement certification. Oxendine was convicted in 2004 of tampering with a witness, making false statements to the FBI and five counts of making false declarations. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek