UPDATED 10:30 a.m.
Chadbourn Police Chief Anthony Spivey has been arrested on 73 felony charges of altering or stealing evidence and drug trafficking.
Jail reports show Spivey, 35, was processed into the Columbus County Detention Center just after 6 p.m.
Warrants show Spivey allegedly took $32,000 in cash, several firearms including an AR-15 and a Smith and Wesson handgun, and hundreds of pills from the evidence locker. The crimes are said to have occurred between August 2018 and March 4, 2021.
Spivey was taken into custody by the State Bureau of Investigation at the county detention center. In a press release, the SBI said Spivey was charged with
• 31 felony counts alter, steal, or destroy evidence
• 31 felony counts embezzlement by public official
• Four felony counts trafficking opiates by possession
• Four felony counts trafficking opiates/opioids by transportation
• Two counts obtaining controlled substance by prescription misrepresentation
• One count obtaining controlled substance by fraud
Spivey was held under $665,000 secured bond.
Spivey will have a first appearance in Columbus County Superior court today (Tuesday) at 2 p.m. CCN will cover the hearing.
Sheriff Jody Greene said Spivey is being held in a jail outside of Columbus County.
“With him being a law enforcement officer here, it wouldn’t be safe to keep him in the county detention center,” Greene said.
Spivey was suspended with pay in March on the recommendation of District Attorney Jon David. The prosecutor’s office cited issues with evidence that in at least one case, David said, charges were dropped in a major drug case in Chadbourn.
In a March 4 letter to the town of Chadbourn, David said that integrity of the town’s evidence room could not be guaranteed. Town Manager Jerome Chestnut suspended Spivey with pay the same week.
David requested a review by the State Bureau of Investigation. The state agency immediately undertook a “complete inventory” of the evidence room along with “other important investigative tasks.”
The prosecutor’s office is also trying to determine what impact the “evidentiary issues” will have on other cases.
Spivey resigned April 6, citing interference by town staff and elected officials in the police department.
Lt. Ken Elliot is interim police chief for the department.
This is a developing story.
