By Amanda Dolasinski
The Fayetteville Observer
LILLINGTON, N.C. — The Harnett County Sheriff’s Office has made changes after a detention officer was charged with taking money from the county.
Sheriff Wayne Coats confirmed the moves Saturday, but declined to specify.
“There have been changes to make sure this cannot happen again,” he said in an email Saturday. “Due to security reasons it would not be in the best interest to discuss this change we have put in place.”
The changes follow the arrest of Blake Robert Webber, who was charged Thursday with 25 counts of obtaining property by false pretense. He’s accused of taking more than $28,023 from the county between March 10 and May 16.
Webber, a detention officer, was employed with the Sheriff’s Office for 10 years, Coats said.
Webber was arrested at his home on the 7500 block of Newton Grove Highway in Newton Grove.
An investigation began May 17 after the Harnett County Finance Department notified the Sheriff’s Office of discrepancies found in the inmate money management system account, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Webber is accused of manually adding nonexistent money to the accounts of inmates who had been released.
No money belonging to inmates was taken.
Money was then transferred to a credit card for his personal use, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Bail for Webber, who was terminated May 17, was set at $125,000.
The State Bureau of Investigation helped investigate the allegations.
This latest knock on the embattled Sheriff’s Office follows a sudden resignation March 22 by the previous sheriff, Larry Rollins, and a request by the North Carolina branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to have U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s Justice Department conduct a comprehensive investigation into alleged misconduct. The actions of some of the Sheriff’s Office deputies, investigators and a jailer have been called into question through various media reports.
Copyright 2016 The Fayetteville Observer