Robeson sheriff suspends two employees amid investigation in aftermath of teen’s death

Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said Friday that his office has suspended two veteran sheriff’s office employees.

Wilkins declined to say whether the suspensions are related to the mishandling of evidence in a 2016 rape case that could have prevented the killing of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar in November.

Earlier this month, Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt said investigators had DNA evidence linking Michael Ray McLellan to a 2016 rape, but the sheriff’s office did not follow up.

McLellan, 34, is charged with raping and murdering Hania, who went missing Nov. 5 when a man forced her into an idling vehicle outside her Lumberton home as she waited to go to school.

Wilkins said the suspended employees are Maj. Anthony Thompson, the former chief of detectives, and Detective Darryl McPhatter. They were suspended with pay pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Wilkins said Thompson served as chief of detectives under former Sheriff Kenneth Sealey, who served until Wilkins was sworn in this month.

Thompson is a 34-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and now works as a commander at the Robeson County jail, according to Wilkins.

McPhatter is a 10-year veteran employee assigned to the criminal investigations unit, Wilkins said.

The suspension was first reported by WRAL.

An analysis by The News & Observer of crime data from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation showed that many rape cases go unsolved in Robeson County, about 100 miles south of Raleigh.

In the last five years, the sheriff’s office reported clearing 26 of the 86 reported rape cases — 30 percent. In 2015, the clearance rate dropped to 18 percent.

Meanwhile, the average percentage of rape cases cleared statewide typically topped 50 percent for the same period of time.

This story was originally published December 21, 2018 at 12:15 PM.