Pubdate: Tue, 15 May 2007
Source: Fayetteville Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2007 Fayetteville Observer
Contact:  http://www.fayobserver.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/150
Author: Greg Barnes

EX-DEPUTY'S COURT DATE SET

A former Robeson County deputy accused of stealing tens of thousands 
of dollars during interstate drug-interdiction stops is scheduled to 
be arraigned Friday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh.

Steven Lovin is the only one of 16 county deputies charged in 
Operation Tarnished Badge who has not pleaded guilty. However, More 
arrests are expected in the four-year state and federal investigation 
of the Sheriff's Office. Lovin was charged in June along with former 
deputies C.T. Strickland and Roger Taylor in what became a 12-count 
indictment accusing them of racketeering, arson, money laundering, 
theft of federal drug-sharing money and other offenses.

The three men were arrested early June 9. A few hours later, state 
Attorney General Roy Cooper and U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney announced 
the investigation, which has since besieged the county with charge 
after charge against former deputies.

Federal prosecutors accuse Lovin, Strickland and Taylor of being 
ringleaders in criminal wrongdoing in the Sheriff's Office from 1996 
through 2004. Strickland pleaded guilty in February to stealing drug 
seizure money. Taylor pleaded guilty May 3 to stealing drug seizure 
money and satellite TV piracy. Both men now face a maximum of 20 
years in prison and fines of up to $500,000. They have agreed to 
cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for lesser sentences. They 
could have faced life in prison. Taylor and Lovin had been set to go 
to trial in July. Before he entered his guilty plea, a Web site for 
the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts listed Taylor as having 
a plea hearing set for May 3. That terminology differs from the Web 
site's announcement of an arraignment hearing for Lovin.

Robin Zier, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Raleigh, 
said prosecutors would not comment about the case. It remained 
unclear whether Lovin would enter a plea or face trial.

Lovin has been held in jail since April, when U.S. District Judge 
Terrence Boyle found that he had talked to potential witnesses and 
revoked his pre-trial release.

One of Lovin's alleged accomplices, former deputy James O. Hunt, 
pleaded guilty in July to stealing about $160,000 in money seized 
during six drug interdiction stops along Interstate 95.

During Hunt's plea hearing, prosecutor Eric Evenson said Hunt and 
Lovin skimmed some of the money seized in drug stops between 2001 and 
2004 and turned the rest in.

Information from Hunt led investigators to a secret hydraulic 
compartment under a staircase in Lovin's home, Evenson said during 
Hunt's hearing. Nobody has ever said what was found there.

All 15 former deputies who pleaded guilty in Operation Tarnished 
Badge await sentencing.

Glenn Maynor, the Robeson County sheriff from 1994 through December 
2004, has not been charged. The investigation continues.
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