by Tim Whitmre, Associated Press
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - The sentencing of four former law-enforcement officers who pleaded guilty in a drug-distribution conspiracy sends a signal to residents of Davidson County, a federal judge said.
“That is a good indication that things are cleaner than some on the outside may think,” U.S. District Judge William Osteen said Friday.
Receiving the heaviest sentence was former Davidson County sheriff’s Lt. David Scott Woodall, who was sentenced to 27 years in prison.
Woodall, three other law enforcement officers and two civilians were arrested in December and later charged in an indictment that included charges of extortion and conspiring to distribute cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy and anabolic steroids.
The men entered guilty pleas in March.
“It’s not the rest of your life, but it’s a substantial part of it,” Osteen told Woodall, 35.
Davidson County sheriff’s Lt. Douglas Edward Westmoreland was sentenced to 11 years, 3 months in prison, while Sgt. William Monroe Rankin was sentenced to 2 years, 7 months.
Rankin’s sentence was lightened by the fact that he cooperated with federal investigators from the day of his arrest, assistant U.S. Attorney Sandra Hairston said.
The department did not return a call Friday seeking comment on the sentences. Just south of Winston-Salem, Davidson County is mostly rural, with some suburban bedroom communities.
Sheriff Gerald Hege’s department has gained national publicity due to the sheriff’s paramilitary approach to law enforcement. Deputies in Davidson County Officers wear combat boots and black berets and the sheriff works out of an office decorated like a military bunker.
For two years, Hege hosted his own show on Court TV, “Inside Cell Block F,” broadcast live from the Davidson jail, where Hege has painted the cells pink and dressed inmates in striped uniforms.
Former Archdale police Sgt. Christopher Shetley was sentenced to 2 years, 10 months in prison. Marco Aurelio Acosta-Soza, a civilian, was sentenced to 6 years, 7 months and another man, Wyatt Kepley - son of a Davidson County commissioner - was sentenced to 3 years, 3 months.
The law officers were fired last year, shortly after their arrest.
According to the indictment, all six were involved in a drug-distribution conspiracy, while Woodall, Westmoreland and Rankin conspired in May 2000 to execute a false search warrant and seize property from Kepley, who was a user and dealer of steroids.
In the same document, Woodall, Westmoreland and Shetley were charged in connection with incidents of alleged extortion.
Davidson County District Attorney Garry Frank said Friday that his office had dismissed drug charges against more than 30 people because the deputies were involved in the cases.
He said there have been larger repercussions to the case.
“The most damaging thing is the general reputation of law enforcement is hurt among people here,” he said. “It’s given a bad image to law enforcement that a lot of people are working to overcome.”
Asked if he had anything to say to the court, Woodall told Osteen that he had experienced a religious conversion a week after his arrest.
“I realize that I’ve ruined my life and the lives of a lot of other people,” he said.
He said his problems began in 1999, when he began using steroids. “On the one hand, I hated myself, but I didn’t know how to get out,” Woodall said. “I wanted to die.”
Woodall’s lawyer, Gene Metcalf, argued for a lighter sentence, saying Woodall was a brave and highly regarded officer who had been left undercover and unsupervised by the Davidson department for too long.
Expert witness Terence Lynn, a former undercover agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration who has studied psychology and criminology, testified that Woodall was not trained to deal with the psychological pressure of undercover work, was not rotated out of undercover duty and did not have direct supervision for two years before his arrest.
Davidson sheriff’s Maj. Brad Glisson testified that after he left the vice and narcotics unit in 1999, no one directly supervised the unit’s undercover officers.
“Looking back, I can recall signs of burnout,” Glisson said of Woodall.
Hairston argued there was no real evidence that Woodall burned out.
“Mr. Woodall’s crime was precipitated by greed,” she said. “It was not precipitated by burnout.”