Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jan 2010
Source: Daily Reflector (Greenville, NC)
Copyright: 2010 Daily Reflector
Contact:  http://www.reflector.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1456
Author: Michael Abramowitz

FORMER DEPUTY FOUND GUILTY, TAKEN TO JAIL

A former Pitt County sheriff's deputy was led from court in handcuffs
Wednesday after she was found guilty on charges that she interfered
with a drug investigation.

Michelle Pollard was sentenced in Pitt County Superior Court to six to
eight months in jail, beginning immediately,  after a jury found her
guilty of felony obstructing justice and a misdemeanor count of
willful failure to discharge duties.

The sentence was the maximum for those charges and a first-time
offender. The former lieutenant cried quietly when the judge denied
her bond during the appeal process.

"I didn't intend to impede any investigation," Pollard said before she
was sentenced by Judge William R. Pittman of Raleigh. "I had no idea
there was an investigation, and I never read the actual report."
Pollard, 40, a former gang unit commander, was referring to a
classified report about an active investigation of suspected drug
dealer Gina Wooten. Testimony during the trial showed Pollard accessed
the report after learning Wooten was having drug-related legal
problems and later tipped off Wooten about the ongoing operation.

Before sentencing, District Attorney Clark Everett told Pittman that
Pollard put lives in danger and ended an active law enforcement
investigation. He said it was important for her to receive the maximum
sentence "so that law enforcement officers understand their badges are
not tarnished." Defense attorney Maynard Harrell told Pittman that
Pollard had a good law enforcement record up to that point, that her
actions were out of concern for others and that she had nothing to
gain personally. He asked the judge to sentence Pollard as an
individual and not as a "scapegoat." Pittman offered the following
comments before handing down the sentence: "Where law ends, tyranny
begins. The people's trust is sacred." He also ordered that Pollard's
law enforcement certification be surrendered immediately.

Pitt County Sheriff Mac Manning was present most of the three-day
trial, but missed the verdict. The news saddened him.

"This has been a trying time for the sheriff's office," he said later.
"It has not been a painless process, but one we had to go through
nevertheless. The verdict speaks for itself." The sheriff said
Pollard's immediate fate was "very unfortunate" but agreed with the
judge's conclusion about her behavior, calling it a personal
disappointment.

"It's distressing that someone who had a good deal of talent,
knowledge and ability would get caught up in something like this. That
is very disappointing," he said.

The eight-man, four-woman jury deliberated about 90 minutes after
attorneys presented their closing arguments.

The attorneys focused on the credibility of the main witness in the
case: Gina Wooten.

Wooten, also a former sheriff's employee who last served as a training
officer at the Pitt County Detention Center, purchased cocaine from a
sheriff's office informant on April 21, according to testimony on
Tuesday. She testified that she received a warning from Pollard on
April 22. Wooten then told a sheriff's detective about Pollard's call,
triggering an investigation into Pollard's involvement, testimony
showed. Everett said the evidence was clear that Pollard obstructed
justice with deceit with intent to defraud, the requirement for a
felony conviction. Everett also  told jurors that Pollard tried to
deceive investigators by advising Wooten to describe their phone
conversations as "girl talk" if anyone asked about them and tell
investigators that they ran into each other at Wal-Mart and exchanged
phone numbers.

"You can get anything at Wal-Mart, even an alibi," Everett said in his
closing statement.

Everett said Pollard made an arbitrary decision to help Wooten. "She
has no right to decide who escapes justice; it's supposed to be
blind." Pollard sat in her chair expressing little emotion at
Everett's remarks, occasionally shaking her head in disagreement and
leaning over to speak to her attorneys.

Where Harrell described Wooten as an "interested witness" who had much
to gain by cooperating with detectives in their investigation of
Pollard, Everett told jurors they could believe Wooten's testimony
because she told a narcotics detective about Pollard's call rather
than take her advice to keep their conversations secret.

Manning will have to deal with any fallout among his ranks. "It
certainly doesn't feel good, for me or anyone in the sheriff's
office," he said. "But as I said, it's a necessary process, and we
will move forward."

Previous story: A jury on Tuesday heard from seven witnesses who
corroborated testimony that a former deputy tipped off a suspected
drug dealer about an impending bust. After one day of state's
evidence, Pitt County District Attorney Clark Everett rested his case
against Michelle Pollard, 40, a former gang investigator indicted in
July on one count each of obstructing justice and willful failure to
discharge duties.

Suspected dealer Gina Wooten told the jury that Pollard alerted her to
an ongoing drug investigation and warned her not to cooperate with any
investigations. At the time, Pollard was a lieutenant with the
sheriff's office. "She told me the truth gets you nowhere, just to
lawyer up and don't talk with investigators," Wooten told the jury.

Wooten, who was employed at the Pitt County Detention Center from
1994-2005, testified along with her ex-boyfriend Shannon Stewart, a
Pitt County deputy and the father of her child. Narcotics officers and
other witnesses also supported her account of events.

The jury of eight men and four women heard Everett and defense
attorney Maynard Harrell give opening statements starting at 9:30 a.m.
By lunch, Everett had called Wooten and five other witnesses to
testify. He introduced phone records indicating the dates, times and
lengths of conversations between Pollard and Wooten.

Sgt. Vance Head, who leads the narcotics unit, took the stand prior to
the 12:30 p.m. break and continued after the break. Testimony for the
state concluded with the examination of State Bureau of Investigation
Special Agent W.R. Myers, who had interviewed all officers and
witnesses following the original investigation's conclusion.

Wooten said that on April 22 Pollard told her about a cocaine
investigation that county narcotics officers were conducting involving
Wooten. Pollard warned her to discontinue further transactions because
a man she was dealing with was an informant, according to the Wooten's
testimony. The man, Richard Huggins, had sold marijuana to Wooten on
April 9, according to testimony. Huggins told deputies he could
persuade Wooten to purchase cocaine, so they arranged a controlled
purchase of a small amount on April 21. Huggins, who was in court but
did not testify, was going to arrange another buy the next day.
Pollard, who had been friends with Wooten, heard about the case when
Stewart approached her in her office for advice about Wooten on April
21, according to Stewart's testimony.

Pollard accessed restricted records about the investigation and told
Stewart that he had to warn Wooten, according to Stewart's testimony.
She also showed him details of the undercover report that were filed
in an internal computerized reporting system.

Stewart said he objected to any interference on his or Pollard's part.
He told the court he did not say anything to anyone while the
investigation was under way. Pollard called Wooten the next day to
warn her, according to testimony. Wooten told Huggins that Pollard had
called her, and Huggins informed narcotics officers of the
conversation.

"I didn't know what to say or do; I knew he (Huggins) was narcotics,"
Wooten said. Narcotics officers ended their investigation into Wooten
and began looking into Pollard's activities.

Charges are pending against Wooten. Everett rested his case at 4:38
p.m., leaving the decision whether to call witnesses for the defense
today to Pollard's attorney Maynard Harrell. Harrell will reveal his
intentions this morning, he said 
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