RED SPRINGS — Ronnie Patterson is still the police chief of Red Springs, and David Ashburn the town’s manager.
The day after the two men were charged with 50 misdemeanors, Patterson, 20, and Ashburn, 30, for allegedly removing documents from Patterson’s personnel file, Red Springs officials were not rushing to judgment.
Mayor Ed Henderson issued the following statement: “The mayor and town board are aware of and do take these allegations seriously. However, in the interest of due process, all that we have going on in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, and after speaking with our town attorney, we will wait until Tuesday’s scheduled board meeting to discuss this matter as a board and how we will move forward.”
The Red Springs Board of Commissioners meets on the first Tuesday of each month.
Patterson and Ashburn appeared Wednesday before a magistrate and were released on a written promise to appear in court on Monday.
Their arrests came after a four-month investigation that Eric Hackney, an investigator for the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office, launched after a public call from John McNeill, the former mayor of Red Springs, for an investigation after information that was included in Patterson’s personnel file was provided to The Robesonian.
The documents The Robesonian received, however, did not come from Town Hall, but came from a private party who found them in a storage unit Patterson once rented. The documents led to the publishing of a story about Patterson perjuring himself in 2008 while a defendant in a sexual harassment lawsuit that was filed by Corena Locklear, a town employee at the time. Patterson had a right to possess the documents as a defendant in the case.
Patterson was a candidate for sheriff at the time, and eventually finished second in a five-person race, losing to Burnis Wilkins.
The contents of three storage units Patterson possessed were sold when he was past due $3,151 in rental fees. According to a statement from Hackney, other items found in the unit included crime scene photos, firearms, narcotics, photos of nude women, fingerprint files, criminal investigative files, handcuffs, and ammunition.
Hackney said, as part of the investigation, he searched the Town Hall on May 4 and found that the two “banker’s boxes” as listed in the search warrant were missing from the town vault, where they had been for seven years. The investigation revealed that the boxes were removed from the vault at Ashburn’s request and given to Patterson sometime between Jan. 1 and Feb 28. Patterson later produced the boxes.
“It was made clear from interviews conducted with past town administration officials that they wanted the contents of the two boxes put in a more secure location than the Human Resources Department, thus the reasoning for placing them in the town’s vault,” Hackney said. “They cited the sensitivity and confidentially of the various documents as well as concerns they had with those who would have had access to the boxes had they been left in the HR department.”
The documents that were missing, according to Hackney, were:
— The sexual harassment investigative file on Patterson and Locklear, including a polygraph examination administered to Patterson that shows he was deceptive.
— Documentation relating to two felonies of accessory before the fact and aiding and abetting, which were committed by Patterson relative to a fraudulent worker’s compensation claim, as well as documentation on a polygraph examination in that case showing that Patterson was deceptive.
— Documentation relating to obstruction of justice committed by Patterson relating to an investigation involving the United States Department of Justice; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as a polygraph in that case indicating he was deceptive.
— Federal litigation documents and court records in the case of Alma J. Brown, administratrix of the estate of Joseph Anthony Brown, plaintiff, vs. Patterson, individually and in his official capacity; and the town of Red Springs, in a civil case concerning the death of Joseph Brown.
— Records and documentation relating to complaints, investigations, actions, summary and disposition relating to disputed employee grievances against the town and Patterson.
— Records and documentation relating to attorney-client communications regarding Patterson’s separation from employment by the town.
— Records and documentation from both the town and the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission relative to Patterson’s separation from employment by the town.
Hackney said the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources was instrumental in the investigation.
”The report they generated was very specific as to the retention and disposition requirements for the documents contained in the boxes,” he said. “It was apparent during the investigation that they take these type of violations very seriously.”
