Evidence room error destroys property and raises questions

The evidence room at the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office has problems.

Less than two years ago, Sheriff Phil Redmond told the Statesville Record & Landmark that “the smallest scrap of paper and a vehicle merit the same detailed accounting process” in the evidence room. "We have multiple checks and balances to make sure everything is done properly," he told the newspaper.

But at some point between November 2007 and March 2010, the sheriff’s office, in violation of state law, destroyed personal property belonging to Statesville resident Robert Goforth.

Over the course of five different incidents since 2003, Goforth has had thousands of dollars worth of items stolen from buildings on his East Iredell property, from antique, solid-oak furniture and other household items to engines, farming equipment and tools.

Some of the property has been recovered and returned to Goforth. Some of it was logged in as evidence at the sheriff’s office pending resolution of the cases. And some of the people who were convicted for the break-ins have been ordered to pay restitution to Goforth, although he said he has not received a penny of the restitution to date.

And now, Goforth is expecting a restitution payment – up to $3,715 – from the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office itself, after it destroyed, without a court order, items that had been seized in connection with the break-ins and were supposed to be stored for safe-keeping as evidence until the court cases were resolved.

Those items (from two different break-ins, one in 2003 and the other in 2005) include what Goforth calls “odd-ball antiques and collectibles” – all family heirlooms – including tools, a Surge Milker, a cream separator and a Weeden No. 32 Eureka steam engine, which Goforth said was a metal engine made before World War I.

But perhaps the biggest personal loss to Goforth was a plastic, battery-powered M14 rifle that he received for Christmas from his grandparents when he was a boy.

Goforth remembers being enamored at the time with the black-and-white television series “Combat!” about “World War II dogfaces in Germany,” Goforth said. Being the craze at the time, toy companies manufactured children’s toys after the series, including play sets, coloring books and games.

Goforth remembers the Combat! M14 rifle being among the most coveted of the Combat! toys. Being from a poor family, Goforth recalls wanting the toy rifle when he was in the first grade, but he didn’t expect to receive it when he asked for it for Christmas that year. But to his surprise and delight, his grandparents bought it for him. “It was one of the biggest prizes,” Goforth said, becoming emotional.

“I took good care of it all those years,” he said. “When you’re poor, you take good care of things. We learned that if you can’t take care of what you’ve got, you won’t get anything else.”

Goforth said he was ecstatic when he learned that the sheriff’s office had recovered the stolen toy rifle from one of the initial break-ins and had it safely stored in the evidence room. “I was so thankful that was found and identified. I was really longing for the day to get that back.”

But Goforth would never see the toy again.

In November, Goforth visited the sheriff’s office to pick up items from the fifth and most recent break-in. While there, he said he asked Property and Evidence Staff Sgt. Darlene Wells about items that deputies had retrieved from prior break-ins and had stored in the evidence room. Goforth told the Report this week that he had asked the sheriff's office to notify him when the cases were resolved so he could retrieve his personal property, but he never received such notification.

On March 2, the District Attorney’s office drafted a letter, which Goforth took to the sheriff’s office, saying any property belonging to Goforth and still in the possession of the sheriff’s office could be released. The letter, signed by Assistant District Attorney Mikko Red Arrow, stated that the property “was no longer needed by the District Attorney’s Office and may be returned to the lawful owner(s).”

Upon being provided the letter from the DA’s office, Wells looked for Goforth’s property in the evidence room, Goforth said. He said she found the “paper trail” for the property, but could not find the property itself.

At that time, Goforth said he approached Donna Swicegood with the Statesville Record & Landmark, which had previously written the story about the security systems governing the evidence room, asking the newspaper to look into the matter. An article was never written.

Meanwhile, Goforth was contacted by Lt. Andy Poteat, who had apparently been assigned to the case of the missing evidence. Poteat broke the news to Goforth that the sheriff’s office had destroyed his property.

In a recent telephone conversation between Goforth and Poteat, a recording of which can be accessed via the link on this page, Poteat said he had “talked with the folks [at the sheriff’s office] about it, and the lady confirmed, ‘Yeah, my signature’s on it. It was destroyed.’

“So that’s all I’ve had to go on,” Poteat told Goforth. “They didn’t say anything about a court order. They said it was destroyed. That’s why they signed off on it.”

Poteat acknowledged that the sheriff’s office destroyed the evidence without a court order. Said Goforth: “They did not follow procedures of law.”

Referencing the toy rifle in his conversation with Poteat, Goforth said: “For that to be foolishly destroyed, especially without a court order, is really a grievous thing for me.” He added that the steam engine “was something that was given to me by my father who’s no longer living.”

Poteat said that he was ordered by Chief Deputy Rick Dowdle to find out from Goforth the value of the items that were destroyed so the sheriff’s office could make restitution.

Goforth said the monetary value of the items is secondary to the sentimental value that the items held. And no amount of money can make up for that, he told the Report.

Goforth told the sheriff’s office his destroyed property was worth $3,715. Goforth compiled a list of the items, along with their value, and had it notarized before submitting it to the sheriff’s office earlier this week. He is currently awaiting his restitution payment. As of today, he has not received it.

Goforth, in his conversation with Poteat, asked from what type of fund the restitution would be paid.

“You’re asking questions that I don’t know the answer to,” Poteat said. “That’s not my territory. Matter of fact, this is the first time I’ve ever dealt with anything like this. And the only reason that I got involved was they asked me to look into it to see what was going on, if I could figure it out, and I did the best I could to come up with what I can, but I wasn’t part of the cases. I didn’t turn the stuff in way-back-when, with the exception of the three nut drivers. Well actually I just handed those to another detective that did. That’s neither here nor there.”

Poteat is referencing the initial break-in at Goforth’s. Poteat himself signed the paperwork on the evidence logged by the sheriff’s office from that 2003 break-in – three Craftsman nut drivers. Those tools were among Goforth’s destroyed property; all the other property that the sheriff’s office destroyed was from a break-in two years later, in 2005.

When Goforth provided the combined total of $3,715 in losses to Poteat in the telephone conversation last week, Poteat said: “I will pass this figure on to Chief Dowdle. And I guess I’ll call you back. Or better yet, I’ll ask him to call you back, maybe. Whichever way he wants to do it. He might tell … well anyway, I’ll wait and see what he tells me and I’ll be back in touch with you.”

Poteat assured Goforth that “whatever happened” to the property, “it wasn’t the detectives. It happened in the evidence room, and that’s where the mistake is, and I sincerely hope the folks are gonna fix this.

“Actually,” Poteat added, “it has already been fixed because none of them are working there anymore. But still, that’s neither here nor there and I hope my bosses do what they can to correct any problems there, prevent any future issues. But, I think they will actually.”

Goforth told the Report that he is disheartened by the actions of the sheriff’s office. “They are in charge of taking care of people,” he said.

Goforth shared with Poteat his suspicion that “someone [at the sheriff’s office] had helped themselves to my stuff.” Said Goforth: “I would rather have my stuff back, and – I don’t know – I’ve just got a bad feeling. I think somebody just helped themselves to my stuff, actually, more than it being destroyed. But that’s just my opinion, but I don’t know.”

Replied Poteat: “Well, like I said, I’m just going by what I can find, and everything I can find – the paperwork – it says it was destroyed. I’m just going by the computer so that’s where I stand on that one.”

Poteat added to Goforth: “Actually, I was hoping I would find your stuff too. I was hoping somebody made just a typo and it was in a corner somewhere. But in no accounts can I find anything.”

In August 2008, the Town of Mooresville Police Department was embroiled in controversy over a deposit slip with a handwritten note showing that the police department – then under Chief John Crone – had deposited “loose change” from the evidence room into the department’s Cops for Kids account.

At that time, the Statesville Record & Landmark published an article that addressed the “multiple layers of safeguards” in place at the sheriff’s office and the Statesville Police Department.

Redmond cited the “multiple checks and balances” in the evidence room. Interestingly, however, he said that those “checks and balances” are exactly what “helped uncover improper procedures in (the) handling of some surrendered weapons.”

A date for that incident was not provided in the article, but it states that “the weapons were handed over by their owner to a deputy, who didn't follow the right procedures in submitting those weapons to the evidence room.” Redmond said the guns “were not evidence in any case.” However, he told the newspaper, “those procedures still needed to be followed.”

The referenced deputy was not named in the article; however, Redmond told the newspaper that the deputy “got in trouble because it wasn’t handled properly.”

According to the Record & Landmark article, Redmond said “it was the tight set of regulations for handling evidence that brought” that particular situation to light. “And changes were made,” the newspaper reported.

Those changes didn’t help prevent the improper (and probably illegal) destruction of Robert Goforth’s property. And that raises a number of questions: what procedures are in place at the sheriff’s evidence room? Why and how did they break down in this case? And how much other property, if any, has been wrongly destroyed or otherwise disappeared from the sheriff’s evidence room?

Top cops meeting less than sheriff said

Just how strong are the relationships between the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies?

At the April 13 candidates’ forum, all four men seeking to oust Phil Redmond said if the relationships exist at all, they are strained and need improvement. One candidate pointed out that the higher the rank, the worse the communication seems between the agencies.

But Redmond disputed that. “The higher up you go, we’ve got a good working relationship; I think the chief of police would back that up,” he said, citing joint task forces with the Statesville Police Department and monthly meetings “to interact” with the police chiefs of Statesville, Troutman and Mooresville.

But e-mails this week from all three municipal chiefs revealed that the three have not met collectively with Redmond for a monthly meeting. And two of the three chiefs have met together with him only once in the past six months. Statesville Police Chief Tom Anderson said that meeting occurred the first week of December 2009.

Troutman Police Chief Matthew Selves, who attended the meeting with Redmond and Anderson, said during the meeting, “we talked about meeting again in January but I knew that I was going to have a scheduling conflict for that date.”

Mooresville Police Chief Carl Robbins said he hasn’t been meeting with the sheriff at all. “I cannot speak for the other chiefs since they may meet with him regularly,” said Robbins, “but I have not been meeting with him.”

Robbins said that Redmond sent a message to him “sometime after August 2009,” stating that “he wanted to start having a lunchtime meeting every month with the chiefs.” However, Robbins said, “Just before the first scheduled meeting, someone had a scheduling conflict and we did not meet as scheduled.”

The meetings were not planned monthly, said Selves: “I would wait to hear a date from the Sheriff’s Office."

The sheriff apparently decided recently that he wants to resurrect the idea of monthly joint meetings. "A few weeks ago," said Robbins, "I received another message that the Sheriff wanted to start meeting again."

Selves said he believes the joint monthly meetings would be beneficial for the law enforcement community. “The Troutman Police Department feels that anytime law enforcement is able to interact in these types of meetings and/or in the field of operations, the entire law enforcement network in Iredell County is strengthened,” he said.

Said Statesville’s Anderson: “my department strives on a daily basis to work proactively with all law enforcement agencies and the community as well. This is a priority for my agency.”

Sheriff candidates tackle issues at forum

The performance of the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office grunt work is stellar. The top brass could use some polishing.

More specifically, they should work on getting along better with others.

That was a common theme of Tuesday’s forum for the four sheriff candidates – two Republicans and two Democrats – who are seeking to oust incumbent Phil Redmond this November.

Mark Nicholson and Phil Blocker will vie for the Republican nomination against Redmond in the May 4 primary. The highest vote-getter will square-off in November with the Democratic primary winner, Jeff Cheek or Bill Stamey. A second primary would be necessary if the highest vote-getter in the May 4 primary does not secure 40 percent of the vote, said Jeff Corbett, who moderated Tuesday’s forum in Barium Springs.

At the heart of Tuesday’s forum was the Iredell County Sheriff Office’s (ICSO) relationship with other members of the law enforcement community; all the candidates – with the exception of Redmond – said the relationships are strained.

“Unfortunately right now, the relationship” between the ICSO and other agencies “is not too good,” said Stamey.

Stated Cheek: “There is no relationship between the Iredell County Sheriff’s Department and local law enforcement in Iredell County. Those ties have been severed, and it will take a tremendous amount of work to restore those relationships.”

Nicholson, a detective with the ICSO, said that the relationship between the sheriff’s office and other agencies “is strained at best.” He said while working cases and talking with detectives from other agencies, the “common theme” he hears is that “they wish there was some better cooperation between” their respective agencies and the ICSO.

Blocker said he believes communication between “the troops on the ground is pretty good” but that “the further up you get, the less the communication between the agencies.”

Redmond disagreed, however, saying while communication “can always improve,” he has established three joint task forces on drugs, gangs and sex offenders with the Statesville Police Department and holds monthly meetings “to interact” with the chiefs of police for Statesville, Troutman and Mooresville. “The higher up you go, we have a good working relationship,” he said. “I think the chief of police would back that up.”

Why should you vote for him?

Throughout the forum, the candidates’ comments were peppered with reasons they believe they are the better man for the job.

When asked specifically why he’s running for sheriff and why someone should vote for him, Redmond responded: “I’ve been sheriff for the past 16 years, and I think Iredell County deserves a progressive, forward-thinking sheriff who has the ability and the experience to meet the challenges that’s facing law enforcement today and facing Iredell County.

“I didn’t have any illusions when I ran for sheriff of what the job consists of,” Redmond said earlier in the forum. “I knew that I’d have to have a vision, an agenda, a strategy to make Iredell County a safer place for you to live, work and raise a family. I also knew I’d have to have short-term goals and long-term goals and I’d have to have a plan. I had to have a management team in place that had the same commitment and dedication that I had to the citizens of the county. I’ve got the management team in place now. It’s a good team.”

Stamey kept his response short: “The desire has always been in me to be in law enforcement. I’ve served in every each capacity except sheriff, which I really want to be. I have the experience, the ability, the training and the desire.”

Cheek said being sheriff “has been a goal of mine for 25 years at least.”

“I feel the sheriff needs to be approachable, available and reach out to the community and be available to them to express their needs, be present, be visible,” said Cheek. “And I am all that. I have the abilities to reach out to various agencies and people in the community to bring this community together to work for a common goal, and that is to make Iredell County a good place and a safe place to live.

“We are at a crossroads in this sheriff’s election,” said Cheek, “and we, the voters, are going to have some serious decisions to make in May and November.”

Said Blocker: “The reason I want to be sheriff is to get all the agencies and the resources together to communicate with one another. I know through my experience, training and leadership classes that it can be done. It’s very simple. Communication is so powerful. By talking with someone or smiling at someone, it tells you something.”

Working together, Blocker said, “is just so easy to do. All you have to do is put an effort forward, and it can be done. We’re all cops. We all want to catch the bad guy. That’s what we do. And working together to catch more bad guys is better.”

Nicholson said he wants to be sheriff because “I’ve always enjoyed helping people.”

He said “there’s so much good that can be done” through the sheriff’s department. But mistakes are currently being made, he said: “I know where the mistakes are being made, but more importantly, I know how to fix them.”

In his introductory comments, Nicholson said: “The sheriff has to have integrity and honesty. He has to be fair. He also has to know that the law applies equally to everyone. The sheriff has to be willing to get out and work with his people and be in the field with them. He also has to get along with other agencies in the county and work with them.”

Nicholson said he has all the traits that a good sheriff needs, including the ability to get along with other agencies. “I’ve got a good working relationship with Mooresville, Troutman, Statesville, and the Highway Patrol,” he said.

Measuring success

Blocker said if elected sheriff, he would measure his own success by how safe people feel in the community. Opening the door for citizens and law-enforcement agencies to communicate with one another, Blocker said, “is crucial.”

Redmond said: “If I made Iredell County a safer place to live, work and raise a family, I feel like I’ve been successful.” He cited his accomplishments as sheriff and his quality staff. “If I left now, I’d be satisfied,” he said.

Stamey said he would measure his success by knowing that all citizens feel safe in their own homes and that employees of the ICSO are enjoying their jobs.

Nicholson would measure his own success by fewer parents having children experimenting with or using drugs. He mentioned his three children and the stories they told about drug-use in their schools. Also, Nicholson said: “People talk about the ‘known drug houses’" in Iredell County. "There’s no excuse in there ever being a 'known drug house' in Iredell County," Nicholson said. "If it’s known, it needs to be corrected. The unknowns, you need to find.”

Cheek said there are a number of ways a sheriff could measure his success at the end of the term; for instance, he said, by reducing the crime rate and break-ins and increasing drug arrests. However, he said, “Increased drug arrests may mean you have more of a drug problem than you had when you started.”

Cheek said he would like to be remembered as “the individual who was available and approachable and I enforced the law to everyone equally.

“You’re only as good as the legacy that you leave behind," he said. "I would want to be known as the sheriff of the people of Iredell County.”

Top Crimes

The candidates were asked their opinion of the two top crime problems in Iredell and how they would fight to resolve one of those problems.

Nicholson, Cheek and Blocker all agreed that drugs and gangs were the top two crime problems in Iredell County, while Redmond and Stamey cited drugs and break-ins.

Nicholson said eradicating drugs from schools is his passion. He pointed out, again, that the ICSO must establish strong, cooperative relationships with other law enforcement agencies and school officials/staff to curb the problem. “Kids intermingle between schools on weekends and holidays,” which demands a county-wide approach to fighting the drug problem, Nicholson said.

He pointed out that most drug addictions begin in high school and that drugs supply gangs with money, which makes gangs and addictions grow. “There’s nothing we can do as important as getting drugs out of schools.”

Cheek said gangs “are the problem of the future.” He said local law enforcement is already working on the drug problem and “may or may not be able to be more aggressive” on that. Citing the Statesville Police Department’s gang initiative program, Cheek said it is a proven fact that “to combat gangs, you have to be very proactive.

“You may not stop (the gangs),” he said, “but if nothing else, you relocate them.”

Blocker said drugs and gangs “are generally one in the same.” He said a strong narcotics unit and a focus on “targeting repeat offenders” will help with the problem. Blocker also said he would start a citizen review board to help foster communication between police and citizens, which would help to fight crime.

Law-enforcement agencies “must work together to combat this problem,” Blocker added.

Redmond said experts state that drugs are behind 70-80 percent of all break-ins and that “Iredell County has more drugs in federal court than all the 31 western counties combined.”

He said the ICSO has “a very good relationship” with the Iredell County Schools. “We’ve got gang teaching going on the school system, we’ve got DARE going on in the school system, and so the gangs sound good, but the major problem is drugs and break-ins,” Redmond said.

Stamey said he believes an aggressive crime-prevention program and more community policing would help by building up citizens’ trust in law enforcement officers. That, in turn, would inspire more citizens to work together with police to fight crime, Stamey said.

Current jail conditions and priority improvements

All the candidates talked of overcrowding.

Redmond said he “made a deal with the State of North Carolina a couple years ago” to lease the prison camp for $1 a year. He said he is currently negotiating with the Department of Corrections “to secure the rest of the location that they’ve moved out of.” Redmond said “there are two large buildings there,” and while it could take “a year or two to work out,” he could bring in portable cell blocks to add to the available facilities.

Stamey said he hasn’t been in the jail in a while. He said because of current economic times, the county likely would not fork over money to increase jail capacity, “so I think we’re going to have to rely on the state, and I have to commend the sheriff for that,” he said.

Nicholson said the current jail was built too small. “It should have been built with a lot more beds in it,” he said. “I think the trends were clear at the time that the inmate capacities would rise far beyond its capabilities.

“The old prison is an excellent way to save money to try to house some of these inmates,” Nicholson said, “but I’m afraid sometime in the near future, it’s not going to be enough.” He said the county will likely have to consider “building on to the existing jail or possibly building a new site.”

Cheek said the jail is not only overcrowded but “antiquated.” While overcrowding is a problem, he said he is very concerned about staffing at the jail. He said the county needs to recruit specialized, professional staff which will help with turnover.

Blocker said he has not been to the county jail. To combat overcrowding, however, he said he would review the people who are in jail – and why they’re there. “I’ve seen folks who have been locked up in jail for a worthless check who just couldn’t make their bond,” Blocker said.

“Of course I would not release dangerous individuals,” but if someone who is locked up is “not a threat to the community,” he said, “maybe we could work with the DA’s office and the judges on releasing them.” Blocker also said that the “banding bracelets that track offenders” would be another option he would consider.

To watch complete video footage of the forum, visit http://www2.statesville.com/video/2010/apr/14/iredell-sheriff-candidates-forum-90156/