A Columbus County Sheriff, who allegedly made “racially-charged” comments during a phone conversation that was recorded, has resigned from the North Carolina Sheriff’s Association. According to WITN, Sheriff Jody Greene made those comments during a phone call with Captain Jason Soles.
The phone conversation happened several years ago, and it took place when Soles was serving as the county’s acting sheriff. Greene resigned from the Sheriff’s Association after members held a meeting over his alleged racist comments.
“The North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association (the Association), representing all 100 sheriffs in our state, is aware of racially-charged comments allegedly made by Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene, that shock the conscience. The comments made on the recording are inflammatory, racially derogatory, insulting, and offensive,” the NCSA said in a statement.
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Greene is said to have made those comments when he was speaking about the African American workers in his department. And the call reportedly took place after Greene won the sheriff’s seat by a narrow margin. Greene’s opponent, Lewis Hatcher, is the first African-American sheriff in Columbus County.
Following the election, Hatcher filed a lawsuit asking to be restored as sheriff until disputes over the election results were settled, WITN reported. Soles, who was then serving as the county’s acting sheriff, said he began recording the phone calls he was having with Greene after the latter started making racially charged comments.
“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of these Black bastards. I’m going to clean house and be done with it. And we’ll start from there,” Greene said in the recording that was obtained by WECT.
Soles also said Greene started calling him late at night after he was appointed as acting sheriff.
“This one particular phone call that [I] received, he made the comment that he hated Democrats. And then he said, ‘I take that back. I hate a Black f***ing Democrat.’ And, and I knew right then, I was like, ‘Wow, this is coming from the sheriff.’ And, I had to start recording those conversations,” Soles said.
Soles said the racially charged phone conversation happened in February 2019, adding that Greene was trying to ascertain if anyone in his office was leaking information to Hatcher or Melvin Campbell. The latter, who is also African-American, had been relieved of his duties as a sergeant.
“They’re gone. This is as fair as I’m going to be. Just giving you a heads up, that’s coming. When me and [attorney] Boyd [Worley] and [wife] Angie [Greene] go through it tomorrow, the first numbers we see, they’re gone. They ain’t going to make it brother. I’m telling you, they might as well find somewhere else to go. Because if you ain’t with me – I ain’t referring to you – but if they’re not with me, they’re against me. And they’re gone. And that’s just how it’s going to be. Clarity – whatever her name is, I don’t trust her. Dawn says she’s racist… If I have to fire every mother f***er out there, guess what?,” Greene said in the recording.
“I’m tired of them f***ing with me. It ain’t happening no more. No godd**n more. So you let them know, if I find their numbers in the next day or two, they ain’t going to like it. They damn sure ain’t going to like it. And that’s got to be somebody in the command staff. Clarity. I don’t trust her. She’s just sitting there staring at me the other day, the whole time. Staring at me the whole f**ing time,” Greene continued. The “Clarity” Greene was referring to was a Black detention officer.
“Tomorrow’s gonna be a new f**king day. I’m still the motherf**king sheriff, and I’ll go up and fire every godd**n [inaudible]. F**k them Black bastards. They think I’m scared? They’re stupid,” Greene said. “I don’t know what else to do it. So it’s just time to clean them out. There’s a snitch in there somewhere tellin’ what we are doing. And I’m not gonna have it. I’m not going to have it.”
Greene also said he was going to start terminating employees “guilty by f**king association” with Campbell and Hatcher, WECT reported.
“We’ll cut the snake’s head f**king off. Period. And Melvin Campbell is as big a snake as Lewis Hatcher ever dared to be. Every Black that I know, you need to fire him to start with, he’s a snake,” Greene concluded in the call.
Greene, who claimed he did not remember the phone call, is being investigated for obstruction of justice. The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into those allegations.
