June 14, 2012
• yANCEY cOUNTY nEWS 5
Two former deputies arrested; face felony charges From the front On Monday, Sheriff Gary Banks said there is probable cause to believe that Farmer did “unlawfully, willfully and feloniously did embezzle, fraudulently misapply and convert to his own use … one Sig Sauer model P226 handgun .337 Sig caliber bearing serial number U684142,
belonging to the Yancey County Sheriff’s Office.” That is the same gun identified by the Yancey County New in March 2011. County leaders later told the newspaper that Farmer admitted to taking a dozen firearms from the department and pawning them. No one has said what happened to the other
weapons he stole. According to his arrest warrant, Grindstaff, who left the department in 2011, was charged with feloniously stealing two Motorola two-way radios “which had been delivered to be kept for his employer’s use.” Both former law officers were also charged with
misdemeanor failure to discharge duties. In the warrants, Banks said he found probable cause to believe that the two neglected “the office of deputy sheriff by not upholding his oath of office” in committing the crimes for which they were charged. Both men were
fingerprinted and ordered to appear in district court on June 29. Both were released on bond. Farmer was suspended days after the Yancey County News uncovered the theft of the Sig Sauer, and he later resigned his post as chief deputy, in which he was the second in command at the department. In a statement provided last March to this newspaper by County Attorney Donny Laws, Sheriff Banks said that Farmer admitted that he “on occasions did pawn service weapons issued to him.” Farmer’s actions led County Manager Nathan Bennett to send a certified letter to District Attorney Jerry Wilson asking for a state investigation. “The assertion that an officer sworn to uphold the law would so egregiously violate that oath, placing the community at risk, is unacceptable,” Bennett wrote. “Yancey County will support prosecution of this matter if these claims are substantiated.” But months later, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice said the State Bureau of Investigation had never received a request from the district attorney to investigate the theft of the guns. “The SBI never received a request to conduct an investigation into this matter,” Spokeswoman Jennifer Canada wrote in an email to the Yancey County News. “It’s my understanding it was handled at the local level.” Banks said in a statement at the time that Farmer apologized for stealing guns from the department. Asked for comment on Monday’s arrests, Sheriff Banks wrote the Yancey County Newspaper: “I have sworn to discharge the duties of the Office of Sheriff and will supervise my staff and endeavor to take appropriate action according to law in any and all situations involving them.”
Your neighbors say they’ve never had a newspaper like this in Yancey County! No other weekly newspaper in the nation has won an E.W. Scripps Award and the Ancil Payne Award! Subscribe now and read one of the nation’s best community newspapers.
YES, begin my subscription to the Yancey County News! (InYancey - $25; Out-of-county $35.) Mail this coupon and your check to: The Yancey County News, 132 W. Main St., Burnsville, NC 28714
NAME: ___________________________________________MAILING ADDRESS: ______________________________________________ TOWN: _____________________________ STATE: __________ PHONE: ___________________ EMAIL: __________________________