Rep. Carla Cunningham, ex-chief deputy file petition to oust Sheriff Garry McFadden
A Charlotte legislator and former chief deputy are among those trying to oust Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden from office with a new court filing, alleging widespread misconduct, threats and retaliation.
State House Rep. Carla Cunningham, former Chief Deputy Kevin Canty and three other former Sheriff’s Office employees filed a petition to remove McFadden from office in Mecklenburg County Superior Court on Monday. District Attorney Spencer Merriweather on Monday also asked the State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the petitioners’ claims. The SBI confirmed its professional standards unit would look into them.
Cunningham, a seven-term Democrat, alleges in the new court filing McFadden threatened her last year as she was facing pressure on whether to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of a bill requiring sheriffs to more closely cooperate with federal immigration officials. The north Charlotte representative broke party ranks to vote for the legislation when it first came through the House and for a similar bill in 2024. McFadden, also a Democrat, had been a vocal opponent of both bills, of which he was the most prominent target.
In Monday’s petition, Cunningham says a conversation with McFadden ahead of the veto vote amounted to an attempt at extortion and bribery.
But Cunningham’s claims are just part of a broader petition, which alleges safety issues at the county jail due to McFadden’s mismanagement, retaliation against critics and directing on-duty deputies to take officials in town for a conference to bars and strip clubs.
McFadden did not respond to phone calls or messages seeking comment Monday.
“We are aware of it, but we do not have a statement at this time,” spokesperson Sarah Mastouri said.
State law requires that a district attorney or county attorney approve a petition to remove a sheriff from office. Before deciding whether he would approve Monday’s petition, Merriweather asked the SBI to investigate its claims.
“District Attorneys have only rarely granted the approval of such a petition, with the understanding that election of a community’s official is a binding choice of the public, which should only be superseded under the most grave circumstances,” Merriweather said in a statement.
Monday’s petition came the same day state House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, a Republican, posted on social media that McFadden was “invited... to testify on his department’s failures” in Raleigh. Other officials in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County were also invited to testify about public safety.
More allegations against McFadden in new court filing
Former Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office employees in the lawsuit allege mismanagement of the department contributing to safety issues, including deaths of people in custody at the county jail and injuries to staff. The former employees claim in the filing McFadden frequently retaliates against critics.
The petition said former sheriff’s office Capt. Juan Delgado saw McFadden make “oral, in-person promises to inmates that were inconsistent with Mecklenburg County Detention Center security policies — without actually changing those policies.”
That left Delgado and jail staff explaining to “now-irate and sometimes violent inmates” that they would still follow written policies, the petition said.
The filing accused McFadden of violating the Hatch Act, a federal law which limits certain political activities of government employees, by making information technology staff at the sheriff’s office work on his campaign website.
He also directed deputies on “dignitary duty to pick up officials of the National Sheriffs Association who were in town for a conference, and to drive those officials to bars and strip clubs” in MCSO vehicles, according to the filing.
“The deputies did as instructed,” the petition said. “They were on duty and used MCSO vehicles while driving the officials to the bars and strip clubs.”
Other allegations include that McFadden:
- Used MCSO credit cards to pay for upgrades on hotel rooms and flights, violating sheriff’s office policy.
- Used sheriff’s office vehicles for personal travel.
- Weaponized his agency’s internal affairs division and started “investigations of deputies, detention officers, and civilian staff based on (his) personal animosity towards them, when there was no suspicion of any actual misconduct.” He also protected employees he liked when they faced investigations, it said.
- “Repeatedly directed that reserve deputies in Mecklenburg County work security at certain collegiate sporting events and parades of Johnson C. Smith University, which McFadden attended,” even foregoing paying them money they had earned.
Cunningham claims threats, extortion attempt
Cunningham says in the filing that when she spoke with McFadden ahead of the 2025 veto vote the sheriff told her Mecklenburg County residents would “come after” her if she sided with the GOP.
She alleges McFadden told her, “I don’t want to see you get hurt; you live in my county” — a comment compared in the petition to the mafia trying to manipulate a business owner by saying, “nice little store you’ve got there, it would be a shame if anything happened to it.”
Cunningham says in the filing she feared for her safety after the call with McFadden. The filing also contends McFadden’s comments amounted to an attempt to extort Cunningham into changing her vote and an attempt at bribery.
Cunningham, according to the petition, says she took “McFadden’s tone and manner of delivery” during their conversation about her veto vote “to be making a prediction that Rep. Cunningham would become physically unsafe, not that she would ... lose the support of her constituents or face highly motivated political opposition.”
“Rep. Cunningham reasonably understood ‘I don’t want to see you get hurt; you live in my county’ as a threat by McFadden to either physically harm her, or to withdraw or refuse her any protection from members of the public who would physically harm her,” the filing says.
She ultimately voted with Republicans to override Stein’s veto and made waves with controversial comments after the vote about immigrants, including saying “all cultures are not equal.”
Many in her own party criticized Cunningham for her vote and ensuing comments in the aftermath of her speech. She faces Democratic primary challenges from prominent activist Rev. Rodney Sadler and former state House candidate Vermanno Bowman this election cycle.
Cunningham published an apology to her campaign website late Sunday in which she said there was “spirit of disharmony that surrounded me” at the time of her immigration comments.
Past criticism of McFadden
McFadden, first elected in 2018, previously faced criticism for his behavior. He has long been a controversial figure, but drew especially harsh and consistent rebuke beginning in late 2024.
Canty, one of the parties in Monday’s filing, resigned in November 2024 in a letter accusing McFadden of verbal abuse, racism and other misconduct. Other former employees have accused the sheriff of abusing his power, the Observer reported previously.
Audio recordings previously obtained by the Observer and other news outlets featured McFadden berating staff, calling them untrustworthy and calling a white captain a racial slur.
Less than a year after Canty resigned, last August, then-Chief Deputy Christopher Allen also resigned and said in his own letter that McFadden orchestrated “constant backstabbing, lies, disrespect and false narratives” against him.
Longtime Chief Detention Officer Telisa White told the Observer soon after that McFadden was rude, unprofessional and narcissistic when she worked for him.
When asked about that criticism, McFadden said staffers betrayed him. His only faults, he said, were trusting too easily, giving people chances and expecting loyalty in return.
Despite the controversies, some in Mecklenburg County have stuck by the sheriff. Before he won election in 2018, McFadden was a respected homicide detective. He also starred in reality television show “I Am Homicide” for two seasons.
He faces three challengers in the March Democratic primary: former Chief Deputy Rodney Collins, former Detention Officer Antwain Nance and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Sgt. Ricky Robbins.
This story was originally published January 5, 2026 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Rep. Carla Cunningham, ex-chief deputy file petition to oust Sheriff Garry McFadden."
