Feds once targeted Owens for public corruption

Frank Owens, who is once again seeking a seat on Mooresville's town board, was investigated by state and federal authorities for public corruption during his last term as town commissioner.

According to several current and former law-enforcement and public officials, all who asked their names to be withheld, Owens was first investigated by Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE), in combination with the Mooresville Police Department (MPD), then the case was sent to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2001.

The case apparently went before a federal grand jury either the day before or after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America. And that's where the story seems to end and speculation begins.

Owens is now challenging incumbent Mac Herring for the Ward 3 seat on Mooresville's town board. Election Day is Nov. 5.

State begins gambling probe

The public-corruption investigation began with ALE and the Mooresville Police Department in late summer 2001. The state agency asked for local assistance when it began investigating reports of illegal gambling at a bingo hut on Timber Road in Mooresville. Owens, a 30-year veteran of the Mooresville Police Department who retired as captain in 1996, was at the end of his first of two consecutive terms as an at-large town commissioner. He served from 1997 to 2005, when he lost his seat to Frank Rader. The seat is currently occupied by Rhett Dusenbury, who is being challenged this year by David Coble. 

Mooresville had a specialized unit that assisted ALE with the 2001 public-corruption investigation.

“There was legitimate bingo in one part of the building, but the back of the operation held real, poker-related gambling,” one officer recalled.

As part of their undercover operation, two ALE officers, driving an unmarked, white Mitsubishi Eclipse, made their way into the Timber Road bingo/gambling establishment. According to several accounts from people close to the investigation, Owens was inside the bingo hut when the undercover state agents walked in.

Owens apparently decided to use his connections as a high-ranking official to determine the identities of the undercover agents by calling the Mooresville Police Department with the Mitsubishi's license-plate tag number. He was connected to Dispatcher Sheila Caldwell, at which time he asked her whether the call was being recorded. Caldwell then switched him to a line that was not being recorded.

Owens asks dispatcher/officers to violate law

Within minutes, the Eclipse's tag number was run for the first of several times through the N.C. Division of Criminal Information (DCI). It is illegal to access systems such as DCI for purposes not specifically authorized in the law and by people who don't have specific authorization. As explained by one officer, all law enforcement personnel must acknowledge, via certification, that they understand it is illegal under state and federal law to use DCI for purposes other than law-enforcement business.

The Town of Mooresville, at the time, apparently did not have a policy regarding police officers running the plates of vehicles for non-law-enforcement people and purposes. That policy became effective on Sept. 18, 2001 – shortly after the ALE officers busted the gambling operation and a grand jury was convened – according to public records obtained by the Report. Still, say current and former law-enforcement personnel, officers and dispatchers knew that running tag numbers for non-law-enforcement personnel for non-law-enforcement purposes was illegal.

Mooresville police were almost immediately notified that the the license-plate number of the vehicle the ALE agents were driving had been run through DCI. “Since undercover tags are flagged, DMV (Division of Motor Vehicles) quickly alerted the police department to the tags being run,” recalled one officer.

Though Caldwell – who did not respond to e-mailed Report questions this week – provided Owens with the information he requested of her, in the hours after the initial time the tag was run, the then-commissioner also called on other law-enforcement officers to run the tag number. Those officers were later interviewed by the FBI and subpoenaed to testify to the federal grand jury.

Owens 'outs', chases state agents
Upon learning that the license-plate on the Mitsubishi Eclipse was registered to government agents, officers say that Owens, who was still inside the gambling establishment, outed the two ALE agents, verbally identifying them as “cops” to those who were present.

“It was almost as if Frank Owens was working security for the gambling house,” said one officer.

The two ALE officers, once identified, immediately exited the building and fled in the car registered to the town.

But Owens wasn't letting it go that easily, said sources in interviews with the Report. Instead, the then-commissioner trailed the ALE agents down NC 115 toward Davidson – sometimes at high rates of speed – until they finally made their way onto I-77. That's when Owens finally backed off.

Undercover Mooresville police officers witnessed the entire event, including the car chase. They were stationed along Timber Road in unmarked cars and were wearing transmitters, which provided constant communication with the ALE agents. The Mooresville officers followed Owens as he chased the ALE agents down NC 115.

Why didn't they pull Owens over, especially knowing what had just transpired and considering he was an easy target for speeding while chasing the agents? Simple, said one source close to the case: “They didn't want him to follow them back to the police department. They were trying to keep from having their cover blown.”

FBI launches public-corruption probe, federal grand jury convened

It wasn't until a follow-up visit to the Mooresville Police Department that the ALE agents positively identified the man who outed them as “cops” inside the gambling hall and then took it upon himself to chase them down NC 115. They were able to identify Owens in a photo of town commissioners hanging on a wall at the Mooresville Police Department.

The case was handed to the SBI to investigate. Considering the sheer number of people who helped Owens by calling in the tag number of the undercover vehicle, the case began to appear much more complex than a case of mere gambling. That's when the FBI became involved and started investigating a possible public corruption case: “I was contacted by the FBI and told they were investigating the corruption of a public official,” said one former law-enforcement officer who later became a federal witness.

At least two Report sources say they were interviewed by FBI agents.

“I told them the truth: Owens asked me to run the license plate," said one source. "There was no rule in place for us not to do that. Owens told me it was on a suspicious vehicle parked at BJ's (where he worked at the time); I had no idea it was an ALE agent that was monitoring the gambling house. If he did that, shame on him.”

The late Capt. Leon White, a loyal friend of Owens', apparently told federal authorities the same story about the tag being on a suspicious vehicle at BJ's.

“Obviously, they had gotten their story straight,” said one former officer. “So the FBI just decided to put the case in front of a grand jury and let them offer that lie there, with no lawyers present.”

Said another: “I testified in front of the grand jury. I told the truth because it was the right thing to do.” However, he said, “The FBI is very secretive. They didn't share any information with me.”

The case stops
The grand jury was convened, and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred at the same time. That's where the story essentially stops. Any information after that is speculative at best:

“After 9-11, it was clear they weren't going to follow up,” said one source. “I was a federal witness, and they never called me back. They said the reason they didn't continue with the case is because the gambling never met the threshold; the house didn't make enough money to make it a federal crime.”

Other law-enforcement personnel say while federal officials may have suggested that the dollar-amount was the reason for dropping or closing the case, it wouldn't have likely been the actual cause. “When it comes to public corruption,” said one source, a dollar-amount made at the gambling house would not matter. The fact that a commissioner would be involved in illegal activity and then interject himself in a criminal investigation “undermines people's trust in government,” he said. And that would have been more pressing to law-enforcement investigating public corruption than a specific dollar amount made at a gambling house.

After all, said one former officer, gambling was just “an instrument” of the bigger public-corruption case.

A former federal official said it is plausible that federal authorities dropped the case because the amount of money did not meet a threshold for white-collar fraud and embezzlement or criminal enterprise. “With too few federal representatives, the bigger players – the more sexy cases – were going to get the action,” he said. “The dollar amount (made at the gambling house) would be a legitimate consideration in making the determination” of whether to pursue the public-corruption case.

But he said it is more likely that the public-corruption case was no longer pursued because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. “There was a wholesale realignment of investigative priorities” after 9-11, he said.

Before the terrorist attacks, the FBI had “investigative priorities, and terror and counterterrorism weren't even on the list,” he said. “Federal agencies were turned on their head because of September 11th.”

What was happening in Mooresville, he said, “could have been a federal crime, but the concept is you go after the bigger fish. It's piranhas versus sharks.”

One of several sources speculated that perhaps federal authorities did not have a strong enough case against Owens. “I don't know if the FBI couldn't put all the pieces together for a federal case or what. I feel if (the grand jury) thought they could have indicted him, they would have. I think it just stopped at the grand jury, and (the FBI) didn't present a strong enough case.”

However, he said, “They (FBI agents) are secretive. They don't share information. They wouldn't tell why it stopped.”

'Systematic retaliation' and unanswered questions

No matter the reason for the case being “dropped” or “closed” or “stopped” – and despite the lingering question of why the state didn't pick the case back up when the federal government's attention was directed elsewhere – the fact that the case was not followed through meant local officers involved in exposing and investigating the gambling house suddenly became sitting ducks. The top brass at the police department, including then-Police Chief John Crone, had been largely kept in the dark about the state's investigation. And the target of their probe – a town commissioner in part responsible for overseeing the operation of the government, including the police department – had been investigated by the FBI, and his friends had been forced to testify in front of a federal grand jury, yet he was clearly not being held accountable. Owens was free to move on with his life – and, if he wished, to make things very uncomfortable for police-department employees who participated in the investigation.

At the police department, the specialized unit that worked with the ALE agents was immediately disbanded.

“They started systematically getting rid of people and demoting people after the FBI called off the investigation,” one former officer said. “It was systematic retaliation.”

One source said Owens approached Crone, telling him to terminate at least one of the officers involved. The Report asked Owens about that in an e-mail of questions sent on Oct. 16 and 17 to three different e-mail addresses he owns. To date, Owens has not responded to any of the questions.

We asked Owens to point out any discrepancies or possible misinformation in the detailed accounts provided by Report sources. He did not respond.

We asked him: if the police dispatcher had already provided him with the information he was seeking on the tag, why did he ask several other people to run the tag, too? Owens did not respond.

We asked Owens if he has ever been involved in illegal gambling in Mooresville and, if so, if he was involved while he was a police officer and/or a town commissioner. He did not respond.

We asked him if he was ever interviewed by the FBI while it was investigating him for public corruption. Owens did not respond.

We have offered, in another e-mail, to post his response(s) if he ever changes his mind.

Sheriff's reserve officer facing charges

A reserve officer with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office is facing charges after reportedly pointing a gun at a tow-truck driver who was repossessing his vehicle.

J.D. Williams - who has also run twice, unsuccessfully, for Statesville's City Council - was served with two  criminal summons for misdemeanor charges, including assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment, stemming from the Oct. 1 incident, states an article in the Statesville Record & Landmark.

The gun that Williams used was not issued to him by the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, according to the Statesville Police Department, which is investigating, and the ICSO.

ICSO Maj. Marty Byers said the sheriff's office, in fact, has not issued a weapon to Williams in his capacity as a reserve officer.

To read more of the R&L's story click here.

More shocking details revealed in sexual-harassment case against Iredell deputy

By Allison Latos

(WSOC-TV)

Channel 9 has learned new details in the sexual harassment lawsuit against Iredell County Deputy Ben Jenkins, who is accused of targeting domestic violence victims.

Documents filed in federal court this week reveal allegations that behavior was condoned and committed higher up in the department.

Read the details from Channel 9 here.

For revealing new court documents related to this case, click here and here. 

A quick note

Hey, guys.

My apologies if you have received multiple e-mail notices of the same articles being published on the blog the past couple days.

I'm dusting off some cobwebs.

Thank you for your patience,

Jaime

Stealing campaign signs is no joke

No election season would be complete without a story (or five) on missing campaign signs.

But this one has a slightly different ending than most.

On Wednesday, Mac Herring - who is hoping to retain his Ward 3 seat against challenger Frank Owens - notified media and filed a complaint with the Iredell County Sheriff's Office after noticing several of his signs and a $100+ banner were stolen overnight from private property. Herring said many of his signs have been stolen from yards during the campaign season, but the last straw was his banner being taken from private county property fewer than 24 hours after he had put it up.

Herring said many signs of David Coble, who is challenging Commissioner Rhett Dusenbury for his at-large seat, were also stolen Tuesday night.

A day later, some of the missing signs - and Herring's banner - were found in the back of a pickup truck at a home on West Center Avenue. But this picture was apparently snapped beforehand:

Campaign and church barbecue signs, along with orange construction cones, litter the yard of this West Center Avenue home on Thursday morning. Two sofas were also hoisted into a toilet-papered tree. (Photo courtesy of Facebook)

Signs belonging to Herring, Coble, Owens, Dusenbury and Mayor Miles Atkins were apparently stolen to pull off a prank. 

What the pranksters may not have known is that stealing campaign signs is actually no joke. Citing N.C. General Statute 136-32(e), Mooresville Police Capt. Joe Cooke said, instead, "it is Class 3 misdemeanor for a person to steal, deface, vandalize or unlawfully remove a political sign that is lawfully placed ..." 

Cooke said both the Mooresville Police Department and Iredell County Sheriff's Office have opened investigations into the larceny.

For more on this story, click here: Mooresville Weekly or here: Mooresville Tribune.

Stranger Danger: tips to keep your children safe

Social media is abuzz today after an apparent attempted kidnapping of a 15-year-old Mooresville girl from the subdivision in which she lives.

Neighbors report that an older man in a van “grabbed” the girl yesterday at the entrance of Glynwater subdivision, across from Mooresville Municipal Golf Course. They say the girl got away. But so did her assailant. For more information, click here.

With this incident occurring on the heels of another attempted child abduction at Mooresville's Walmart just last month, area parents are naturally on edge.

To help safeguard your children from potential predators, Mooresville Police Maj. Ron Chilton says parents need to teach young people about “stranger danger.”

“While strangers may mean no harm,” Chilton says, “children need to be taught to let their parents know when a stranger is around.” He says the adult can then assess the risk.

“Parents should make sure they know where their children are at all times - this includes at home, in their neighborhoods, in a local store, or away on vacation,” he adds.

In the event a young person finds themselves in a situation of potential abduction, Chilton says, they need to draw as much attention as possible to attract help. “This might include yelling, screaming, kicking, hitting, biting or whatever they can do to draw attention to the situation” and let people know that “something isn't right.”

Bob Mangan, owner of Mangan Martial Arts Academy on Main Street in Mooresville, has spent many years as a passionate proponent of teaching self-defense techniques to children and adults. Mangan says every child should be taught how to respond in the event s/he is ever confronted by a predator.

Interestingly, one of his first tips is: do not scream “Help!” 

That word, Mangan says, is used too often by kids when they are horsing around with their peers and parents. Instead, parents should teach their children to scream, “This is not my father/mother! I don't know this person!”

“Yelling, 'Fire!' is also a good one, because it brings attention to the situation,” Mangan says, adding that the child should be taught to drop to the ground, kicking and screaming, if it is possible in the situation.

If standing, “Put yourself in a defensive posture, with your hands up, almost in a pushing motion (fighting stance),” Mangan says. “Start yelling, 'Stop! Stop! Get back! Get back!'”

“Your voice” says Mangan, “is a very powerful weapon.”

But even more powerful, he says, is awareness: “Awareness is your number-one self-defense technique.”

He offers the following tips on how NOT to become a target:

1. Don't talk on a cell phone while walking in a parking lot.
2. Don't have ear buds in if walking, running or sitting in a public place.
3. Don't travel alone.

“Predators like easy prey,” Mangan says. “The lion chases the zebras, and the one it kills is the one that stays away from the herd.”

Chilton encourages families to download the app Life360 on smartphones. “This program can allow parents to find out where their children are in real time (as long as they have the phone with them),” he says. “The program may require the phone to have GPS capability.”

For more information on self-defense techniques or courses offered by Mangan Martial Arts, please visit www.manganmaa.com or call Mangan at 704-799-3645.

Police investigating possible attempted kidnapping

Mooresville police are investigating what appears to be an attempted kidnapping in a residential neighborhood.

According to a neighbor's post on Facebook, a girl – who police say is 15 years old – was “grabbed” at the front entrance to Glynwater subdivision, across from Mooresville Municipal Golf Course, yesterday afternoon. Neighbors say the girl is okay, but the man who tried to kidnap her was not caught.

The Facebook post on the “Glynwater residents” group says the man “is an older man driving a red van with wood paneling with out-of-state plates” and that “police say he has been trolling (Glynwater) neighborhood and adjacent ones.”

Mooresville Police Maj. Ron Chilton confirms the police department is investigating, but he says he cannot confirm the remainder of the information in the posting.

He also says this apparent attempted kidnapping is not connected to last month's attempted child abduction at Mooresville's Walmart.