In July 2002, four North Carolina officers were sentenced to prison on federal drug-trafficking charges – three of them worked vice for the Davidson County sheriff's office. One officer, David Scott Woodall, sold steroids and cocaine, planned on doing the same with pot and ecstasy, and stole a $160,000 in cash from codefendant Wyatt Kepley, one of two civilian accomplices in the case. Another officer, Douglas Westmorland, helped Woodall filch the money from Kepley, helped fabricate a search warrant for his house, supplied a fellow officer with pot, and stole more than four pounds of coke and some 60 pounds of grass from the evidence room.
AFFADAVIT TELLS TALE OF DRUGS, SALES, THEFTS
Four law enforcement officers jailed on drug charges apparently shared a common bond of anabolic steroid abuse.
They also routinely robbed drug dealers for cash and drugs they could sell, sometimes by breaking in and other times by serving false search warrants, according to an affidavit filed by federal investigators to obtain a warrant to search. Among those charged are Sgt. William Rankin Jr., 32, Lt. David Scott Woodall, 34, and Lt. Douglas Edward Westmoreland, 49, all Davidson County deputies assigned to the vice-narcotics division.
Also charged was Chris Shetley, an Archdale police patrol sergeant and former vice officer, and two other men, Wyatt Nathan Kepley and Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza, who were not law enforcement officers.
Kepley is the son of Davidson County Commissioner Billy Joe Kepley, who declined to comment about the case Wednesday.
All the suspects were arrested early Wednesday by the FBI and State Bureau of Investigation on charges of racketeering and possession with intent to distribute cocaine, marijuana, MDMA ( ecstasy ), anabolic steroids and cocaine.
Other charges include laundering money and using firearms in relation to crimes.
The affidavit and search warrant were released by the U.S. Attorney's office late Friday afternoon.
The documents reveal that the investigation that led to the arrests of the officers began with the arrest of another local law enforcement officer - referred to as "CW-1" - on Nov. 5.
Although the documents do not name the officer, Thomasville police Sgt. Russell Earl McHenry Jr., 32, was arrested Nov. 5 by State Bureau of Investigation officials on trafficking and conspiracy to traffic in ecstasy and marijuana.
McHenry, a Greensboro resident, also was a Thomasville vice-narcotics officer. His court date has been continued to Feb. 14.
CW-1 was arrested on state drug charges involving MDA/MDMA and marijuana. He chose to cooperate with investigators. According to the affidavit, he told them he was "part of an organized criminal conspiracy" involving "top level officers from several different law enforcement agencies."
CW-1, Shetley, Rankin and Woodall were tied to Kepley through the sale and use of anabolic steroids. CW-1 said he first became involved with the group of officers after Kepley was arrested in California, cutting off his supply of steroids.
CW-1 said he met Rankin - who was driving a silver four-door Cadillac used as an undercover car by Davidson County deputies - outside a topless bar on S. Main Street in High Point in late April.
Rankin allegedly supplied CW-1 with $300 worth of steroids the next day.
CW-1 said he later accompanied Woodall in robbing Kepley's apartment of cash and drugs after serving Kepley's girlfriend with a false warrant July 10 while Kepley was in California for a court appearance.
The affidavit states that Rankin, Westmoreland and Woodall had stolen more than $160,000 in cash from Kepley's residence on three earlier break-ins.
According to the documents, Woodall's source for marijuana and cocaine was Acosta-Soza, who made regular trips to Texas to buy drugs. Acosta-Soza was arrested in mid-October. Authorities seized about $48,000 of Woodall's cocaine.
Woodall bailed Acosta-Soza out of jail, later gave him $32,000 to go to Texas and buy more drugs and threatened to kill Acosta-Soza's children if he didn't return, the document said.
Westmoreland's girlfriend, who is mentioned in the document but not named, is a prior informant.
At one point, Woodall and Westmoreland became suspicious that Rankin was informing the Drug Enforcement Agency, and they discussed the possibility of killing him, according to the documents.
Also included in the documents is a reference to a visit to the High Point Police Department in April. Woodall went to the department to pick up a Federal Express package that had been sent to police because it contained steroids.
An unnamed High Point detective thought it was unusual for a Davidson County investigator to pick up the package because that department did not routinely pursue steroids cases.
Shetley thought the High Point detective contacted the FBI to identify the source of the steroids in California and the recipient in Lexington.
The group of officers met to discuss the threat of a federal investigation, the documents said. Woodall allegedly told CW-1 not to worry because they would turn the package in as evidenceas if it was part of a normal drug investigation.
CW-1 also told investigators that at one point a man had given Sheriff Gerald K. Hege information about Woodall "being dirty." CW-1 said Westmoreland and Woodall planted a pound of marijuana on the man and charged him with possession.
Another deputy "was reportedly frightened" by the subsequent beating Woodall and Westmoreland gave the man.
In late November, Woodall told CW-1 that Hege had called him and Westmoreland into his office. Hege told them he'd heard allegations that the two were involved with drugs, according to the affidavit.
Hege believed the information about Woodall and Westmoreland "may have been part of an election year ploy by the NCSBI to cause trouble for him."
Shetley reportedly drew arrest warrants for possession of marijuana on a suspect. He later allegedly offered to "make the warrants ... disappear" for $1,500.
CW-1 told investigators Shetley used $3,000 he seized from a suspect as a down payment for a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
Woodall was said to have used an outbuilding at 1014 Virginia Drive in Thomasville. He lived part of the time out of the sheriff's office's Vice-Narcotics Unit trailer off of Old U.S. 29 near Thomasville, and CW-1 said he often saw Woodall using a Davidson County undercover van to transport marijuana.
High Point defense attorney Georgia Nixon, who was an assistant district attorney for Davidson County between 1992-95, said she'd been hearing stories from clients about the three deputies for a while.
Clients told her they were searched and the officers found nothing on them, but they were later served papers for drug offenses.
In other cases, clients had their money seized. Others reported that the officers seized amounts of controlled substances, but reported smaller amounts than were seized.
There have also been reports of physical abuse, she said.
She said reports were sporadic in 2000, but a real pattern developed in the last seven or eight months, she said.
"Every other week, somebody was coming into my office and telling me something bizarre," Nixon said.
All three officers worked together at the Thomasville Police Department in the past, she said.
"The problem is, they ( vice officers in different law enforcement agencies ) all use each other in undercover sting operations," said Nixon. "You have to wonder. Are there more?"
Earlier this week, Hege said vice officers are vulnerable because of the temptations involved with the job.
He could not be reached for comment Friday.
