Southwest Virginia county sheriff, employees indicted
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Henry County Sheriff H. Franklin Cassell and 12 of his current and former uniformed employees have been indicted in a federal investigation into drug and gun dealing. A U.S. Postal Service employee, a probation officer and five citizens were also charged in the 48-count indictment, which was issued Tuesday and unsealed Thursday. Charges include a racketeering conspiracy, firearms charges, narcotics distribution, obstruction of justice and perjury. The indictment alleges that drugs and guns seized by the sheriff’s office were sold to citizens for distribution. The conspiracy began in 1998, the indictment said. “It is disgraceful corruption,” John Brownlee, U.S. attorney for western Virginia, said at a news conference. Cassell was charged with impeding the investigation by the FBI and federal drug enforcement agents and money laundering. He was in custody and faced an afternoon bond hearing Thursday. Fourteen others were also in custody and police had been in contact with the rest of those indicted except for one defendant who was at large, Brownlee said. The indictment said one of the citizens, William R. Reed, told investigators that a house owned by one of the sheriff’s officers was used for drug distribution. Reed cooperated in the investigation following his arrest last year on charges of possession with intent to distribute narcotics. Reed said he was a middleman in the distribution ring and paid James A. Vaught, a sergeant with the sheriff’s office, to use the house he owned for drug distribution. According to the indictment, drugs involved in the conspiracy were narcotics, cocaine, steroids and marijuana. The Henry County Sheriff’s office declined to comment. A county sheriff’s dispatcher referred questions to the state police office in Salem. An officer who answered the phone there referred calls to the U.S. attorney’s office. Cassell has been sheriff since 1992 in the rural county of about 58,000 residents along the North Carolina line. The area is a former textile and furniture region that has fallen on hard times with the closing of many factories. The sheriff’s department has about 122 employees, including 96 law enforcement officers, according to the indictment. State police and officers from the neighboring city of Martinsville are helping the county, a state police official said. Source : wvec.com |