NC “Hero” Drug Warriors Like Drugs, Too

Earlier this week, it was announced that a total of fourteen war-on-drug enforcers, including eleven from North Carolina, have been arrested after a two year long FBI drug sting:,      .

Via WSPA News 7:

Thomas Walker, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District, said multiple people were arrested in a major sting of cocaine and heroin operations. Those arrested include five current members of the Northampton County sheriff’s office.

They were charged with trafficking cocaine and heroin up and down the I-95 corridor.

On Wednesday in court, prosecutors showed photos and video of alleged wrong-doing, WRAL reported.

“They all gave some sort of confession,” a prosecutor told the judge, according to the TV station. “Each of these defendants admitted to their involvement.”

Nine of the officers were not granted bail on Wednesday because the judge said he needed more time to review the case, according to WRAL.

Walker said there were arrests at an airport in Halifax County and a warehouse in Rocky Mount. A second group was arrested at a warehouse in Rocky Mount. The undercover operation, called “Operation Rockfish,” has been ongoing for about a year and a half…

Arrested were:

• Ikeisha Jacobs, 32, a deputy with the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office
• Jason Boon, 29, a Northampton deputy
• Jimmy Pair, 48, a Northampton deputy
• Curtis Boone, 31, a Northampton deputy
• Thomas Jefferson Allen II, 37, a Northampton deputy
• Wardie Vincent Jr., 35, a former Northampton deputy
• Cory Jackson, 43, formerly with the Northampton County Sheriff’s Office
• Antonio Tillmon, 31, a Windsor City policeman
• Adrienne Moody, 39, a North Carolina correctional officer
• Alaina Sue Kamling, 27, a North Carolina correctional officer
• Kavon Phillips, 25, a North Carolina correctional officer
• Lann Tjuan Clanton, 36, a correctional officer with the Virginia Department of Corrections
• Alphonso Ponton, 42, a Virginia correctional officer
• Tohsa Dailey, 31, a 911 dispatch operator for Northampton County
• Crystal Pierce, 31, of Raleigh

FBI Agent John Strong, who said he and the other agents involved were shocked  by the involvement of police officers and characterized it as “a breach of the public’s trust” in which those officers used their positions “to line their own pockets.”

Northhampton County Sheriff Jack Smith, who saw roughly 15 percent of his 35 deputy department marched away in handcuffs as a result of the case, agreed with Strong, stating:

“They’ve let me down. They’ve let the sheriff’s office down,” Smith said. “They’ve let the citizens down as well as their families. Most of them have children and they’ve let the down as well.”