As Assistant U.S. Attorney Dennis Duffy laid out chunks of the government’s case against former Wayne County Sheriff’s Office Drug Unit chief Michael Cox inside a sixth-floor courtroom at the Terry Sanford Federal Building Sept. 6, he made a series of jarring allegations.
But his thesis seemed to center around the fact that Cox allegedly aided and abetted — and ultimately conspired with — two men he characterized as among Goldsboro’s most notorious drug traffickers.
“He chose to protect these guys,” Duffy said. “They were his people.”
That is why, the government claims, he befriended and worked alongside Rinardo Howell and Theodore Lee.
It is why, the government claims, he thwarted investigations and prosecutions for them and tipped them off when law enforcement was monitoring their activities.
It is why, the government claims, he invited them to his home in Walnut Creek — a move that, Duffy said, on one occasion, shocked another deputy who was in attendance.
It is why, the government claims, he hooked at least one of them up with local attorney Worth Haithcock.
But Cox’s attorney, Hart Miles, seemed to tip his hand during that Sept. 6 detention hearing, testing with Federal Magistrate Judge James Gates the defense’s contention that Howell and Lee were, in fact, confidential informants — that if, as the government asserts, there was no “file” or “paperwork” defining that relationship, it might not make their status as confidential informants any less valid.
That, it appears, will likely be the central question jurors will have to answer when they determine whether Cox will spend two decades-plus in prison for alleged crimes detailed in a sprawling 50-page indictment handed down by a federal grand jury in August.
Gates was not sold and denied Cox pre-trial release — expressing concern about what he called the former deputy’s “deep involvement” and “close relationships” with Lee and Howell.
But according to Duffy — and documents obtained by New Old North — the Wayne County District Attorney’s office bought it on at least one occasion.
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It was May 2015 and Lee had been charged with possession with the intent to sell and to distribute marijuana — a felony that carries with it a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison.
By that time, according to the indictment, he was already in a “relationship” with Cox, although the government contends no documentation exists of Lee’s role as a confidential informant.
Duffy, in open court, alleged that when “these guys got into trouble, (Cox) had his buddies in the D.A.’s office (get) them off.”
In the case of Lee’s 2015 drug charge, according to case disposition paperwork obtained by New Old North, the charges were, in fact, dismissed.
The reason, listed under “ACIS Special Conditions,” was “REQUEST BY M.COX.”
Calls made to District Attorney Matthew Delbridge for comment on what his office’s protocol is as it relates to throwing out cases against purported confidential informants were not returned.
Does the D.A.’s office require a law enforcement official to prove the person charged is working with the department before releasing them?
Does Delbridge’s office simply take the officer — or, in this case, the deputy — at his or her word?
If the person facing charges is, in fact, a confidential informant, does the charge matter when determining whether or not to toss the case?
Those questions would have been among several New Old North would have asked Delbridge, considering he was the district attorney when Lee was released at Cox’s request.
But some local law enforcement officials said they have the answers.
First, and most importantly, they would tell you that if there was no file, Lee was not actually an informant anyway.
Goldsboro police Chief Mike West would not go into detail about GPDs relationship, or lack thereof, with potential informants but he did acknowledge that before that type of relationship would be forged, the would-be informant would go through a vetting process and that GPD policy requires documentation be kept.
And a member of the Sheriff’s Office who asked for anonymity took it a step further.
Working as a confidential informant, they said, was contingent on several factors, and stipulates that the contract is void if the person commits certain crimes.
So, when Lee was charged with possession with intent to sell and distribute in 2015, he would have been dropped as an informant anyway, the source said.
“No way that guy was an informant, and if he was, after he was busted for dealing dope, that would have been that,” the deputy said. “Anyone who has ever done undercover work or has run a C.I. knows that, so this seems like a Hail Mary to me.”
