Judge revisits trooper slur case

Patrol's probe of recorded racial slur knocked; judge says to reinstate demoted trooper with back pay

When retired Lt. Virgil Lessane presented the state Highway Patrol with an audio recording of a racial slur, the patrol moved with the kind of speed associated with an open-and-shut case. Within a few weeks, one of the officers Lessane accused of uttering the slur was demoted.

But a state administrative judge recommended last week that Mitch Foard, the sergeant busted down to trooper two years ago, be reinstated with back pay. Judge Joe Webster, in a 41-page decision, attacked Lessane's credibility and the patrol's handling of the investigation.

Webster said that the then-Internal Affairs director, Capt. Ken Castelloe, never heard the original cell phone message at the root of the complaint, could not get Lessane, who is black, to consent to an interview, and repeatedly told patrol officials asked to authenticate the recording that it was Foard's voice. Foard, who is white, was stationed in Richmond and Scotland counties at the time.

The judge also found that Lessane had a history of questionable behavior that included asking patrol members to do criminal background checks on potential employees for his private business. Lessane retired three months after an internal investigation into the background checks, which are supposed to be for law enforcement purposes only. He could not be reached for comment.

Ricoh revisited

The findings are another hit for the patrol, which has been reeling from one public relations disaster after another for more than a year. Once again, the patrol is faced with questions about the integrity of its officers and its operations.

"The finding of the truth in the facts before me has been difficult," Webster wrote. "I have been called upon to resolve a dispute among a house that was divided against itself."

Some of this was supposed to change with a new commander, Walter J. Wilson Jr., who replaced Fletcher Clay in July. Gov. Mike Easley said at the time that Wilson would provide "strong and steady" guidance to the patrol's 1,800 members.

Five months later, a trooper entrusted with caring for a retired police canine, Ricoh, returned the dog to the former patrol sergeant who was fired last year for tying the dog up and kicking it. The top commander did not find out about it until 30 days later, when a News & Observer reporter spotted Ricoh at the Wake County home of the trooper, Charles L. Jones. Ricoh has been returned to the other trooper and the patrol is now trying to get Ricoh back.

On Friday, the Attorney General's Office filed an appeal in state Superior Court to prevent Jones from getting his job back.

In that case, too, an administrative judge criticized the patrol's handling of the investigation, saying it bowed to pressure from the governor's office to fire Jones. The hearing in April produced surprising testimony of police dogs being shocked, hung and swung during training exercises. The patrol has since suspended the program.

Cases under fire

John Midgette, the N.C. Police Benevolent Association's executive director, said the patrol remains plagued by politics and seat-of-the-pants decision making at the highest levels. Troopers have no clear guidance when top officials seemingly operate above the rules, he said.

"There are hundreds of troopers who are begging for true leadership and they understand right from wrong, and this has become such a childish circus act that it's an embarrassment," Midgette said. "But this can only change when there are strong leaders who enact strong rules that everyone lives by."

Wilson could not be reached for comment, nor could N.C. Crime Control Secretary Bryan Beatty, who oversees the department. Patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin called Midgette's comments "ridiculous, misleading and untrue."

Clendenin said the patrol stands by its investigations into Foard and Jones. Foard's case will be heard by the State Personnel Commission, which could issue a ruling in the coming weeks.

"We're going to continue to investigate in the manner that we think is appropriate and that's a thorough investigation," Clendenin said. Wilson and Beatty "have said they are going to take the actions that they deem appropriate for each individual case, and they are not going to be discouraged by an administrative law judge's ruling."