County commissioners will meet at 4 p.m. today (Wednesday) in an emergency session to appoint an interim sheriff.
A notice from the board clerk said the meeting is open to the public and will also be livestreamed. Commissioners are scheduled to appoint an interim sheriff to fill in for Jody Greene, and approve a performance bond for the interim. The candidate’s name has not been officially released.
Chief Deputy Aaron Herring is serving as sheriff until the appointment.
Greene was placed on suspension Tuesday after District Attorney Jon David filed papers accusing Greene of maladministration, corruption and obstruction of justice. The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the allegations.
The accusations stem from a 2019 telephone recording released last week by Democrat Jason Soles, who is challenging Green for the county sheriff’s post. Soles stated that the District Attorney, State Bureau of Investigation, county administration and all but one commissioner refused to listen to the recording, because they support Greene. Soles reportedly was sharing the recording with Chadbourn area residents while campaigning door to door over the weekend.
Only Commissioner Giles “Buddy” Byrd agreed to hear the conversation, Soles said in a television interview. Byrd, a Democrat, was arrested by the sheriff’s office for theft of a storage building. The charges were eventually dismissed by a special prosecutor.
District Attorney David, in a statement to media, a letter to Green and court documents, said his office was unaware of the recordings until informed by the media. Three commissioners said they also found out about the three year old recordings via media reports.
In his letter to Greene, David said that the recording has caused a lack of confidence in the sheriff’s office, and could lead to a Giglio ruling. The federal Giglio statute requires that a prosecutor must disclose to the court if a law enforcement agency may have considered race in any investigation.
The interim sheriff would serve until a new sheriff is sworn into office, usually in December after a November election.
