By SUE LINDSEY, Associated Press Writer
ROANOKE, Va.- A rural county sheriff who faces federal charges in a suspected scheme to sell drugs seized from criminals has stepped down, his attorney said Monday.
Henry County Sheriff H. Franklin Cassell has informed county officials of his retirement, which is effective immediately, attorney John Lichtenstein said in a statement.
Cassell has not been in the office since the beginning of the month, when he was indicted along with 12 of his current and former officers and seven others in a federal drug case. Cassell is charged with impeding the investigation by federal agents and with money laundering.
“The sheriff has examined the nearly constant distraction his status has become,” Lichtenstein’s statement said, and didn’t want it to interfere with the office’s work.
Cassell, 68, had not intended to seek re-election next year, the attorney said. He has been sheriff since 1992, and before that had a career with the Virginia State Police.
Cassell said last week he would stay off the job on an unpaid leave until the case was resolved, but the county supervisors asked him to resign and said the department’s operations were hindered otherwise.
Prosecutors have said cocaine, steroids, marijuana and other drugs seized by the sheriff’s department were resold to the public during the past eight years. Guns and other evidence also were stolen, they said.
Henry County, which has a population of 57,930, is located in the southern part of the state on the North Carolina border.