Officer
denies charges, makes her own allegation
May 24, 2012 6:37 PM
A mini-stroke left New Bern police
officer Frances Sutton suspended from duty and facing drug charges. She denies the charges
and said it is a case of the department wanting to get rid of lesbians.
Sutton is involved with a
relationship with a female police officer who was fired recently in a
departmental matter unrelated to Sutton.
Sutton is accused of stealing
Oxycodone, a powerful painkiller, from a New Bern police evidence locker and
failing to enter drugs into evidence. She said the charges that resulted from
an investigation launched after an April 20 stroke, Sutton told the Sun
Journal.
Interviewed Thursday afternoon in
her lawyer’s office after her morning court appearance, she recalled what
happened in the emergency department at CarolinaEast Medical Center in April.
“The ER staff asked me if I was
drunk or high. I told them yes. I was out of my mind at the time,” she said.
New Bern police officers heard her
response about being high. They went to her patrol car and found a bottle of
Vicodin, a long-term medication prescribed by her doctor for painful rash and
joint pain.
Hospital blood tests showed no
alcohol but did reveal 300 nanograms of opiates; 2,000 ng in the body would be
considered illicit. No other types of drugs were detected, she said.
As she remained in her bed, two New
Bern police officers wanted to go in. Only family was allowed in her room and
hospital police officers took the New Bern police out of the room.
That same day Sutton received a
letter from New Bern’s police chief informing her that she was being removed
from her duties. The reasons cited: her physical condition or behavior was a
potential risk to the public, the department or herself.
On April 30, she was placed on
non-disciplinary suspension with pay. An investigation by Internal Affairs was
launched. The evidence property was scrutinized.
New Bern Police Chief Toussaint said
in a new release that an audit was performed shortly after his arrival to
ensure procedures were being followed in the handling of evidence.
Sutton said the charges are bogus
and due to evidence personnel snafus.
She is accused of having 25
Oxycodone pills on Dec. 9, 2010, but the State Bureau of Investigation reported
that she did not turn them into evidence.
Another example of evidence mishaps
occurred Jan. 13, 2012. She and another officer were called to a New Bern
pharmacy after a man passed a bogus prescription to the pharmacist.
“The man waiting for him on the
outside, called inside and told him police were outside,” Sutton said.
Sutton said the person came out of
the store and threw the pills in a trash can. Sutton put her hands in the trash
amid vomit and collected as many pills as she could. The bottle listed the
amount of pills at 125. She said she collected all she could find, put them in
the bottle and turned them in to evidence. The SBI considered that as another
strike against her.
Sutton said she had never taken
Oxycodone pills. “Are you a junky?” she was asked, and she said no.
Francine Sawyer can be reached at
252-635-5671 or at fsawyer@freedomenc.com.
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House of Representatives, Washington, DC 20515 and demand federal hearings into
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mandatory body cameras for cops, one strike rule on abuse, and a permanent DOJ office on Police Misconduct.