Audio of a white sheriff threatening to fire his “Black bastard” staff members has been made public. Now, the state Bureau of Investigation has confirmed an investigation has been launched, looking into his conduct.
On Monday, Sept 26, WECT revealed it received a recording of a fiery 2019 conversation between Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene and then-Captain Jason Soles about his African-American staffers that he believed leaked information to his political opponent about his eligibility to serve as top cop in the town.
Greene called his employees snitches as he ranted about feeling betrayed and wanting to “clean house.”
“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of these Black bastards,” the sheriff is caught telling Soles. “I’m going to clean house and be done with it. And we’ll start from there.”
The telephone conversation was about Lewis Hatcher and his supporters within his department. Greene wanted to know who had shared ammunition with his opponent during their hard-fought election race for sheriff.
Though Greene was the victor over the incumbent Hatcher, who is Black, he wanted to weed out those workers who aligned with the other candidate.
He also wanted information on Melvin Campbell, a Black sergeant working in the office at the time. Only two months into his career as sheriff, Greene felt his first few weeks had been rocky because of several scandals.
The biggest scandal was Hatcher’s protesting over his narrow win of 34 votes. The concern was especially high as voter fraud in that part of North Carolina had made national headlines.
Another scandal was about Greene’s actual address. The state law requires the sheriff to live inside of the county he or she would serve. Many were calling for him to reveal his residency. The last scandal was about Greene being improperly sworn in before the state certified the election results.
