North Carolina sheriff quits again, before allegations heard

Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene enters a courtroom for 
 his removal hearing. (Photo by Grant Merritt, The News Reporter)

An embattled sheriff in rural North Carolina has again resigned, this time after being re-elected but facing renewed charges.

Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene quit "just moments after the start of a second court hearing to remove him from office," report Tyler Dukes and Carli Brosseau of The Charlotte Observer. "A superior court judge Wednesday said the announcement effectively ended District Attorney Jon David’s effort to remove Greene from office over wide-ranging misconduct allegations. But the court left unanswered whether Greene should be disqualified from the post, which would prevent him from running or serving again."

"Greene previously resigned from the final weeks of his first term during an October removal hearing into the then-suspended sheriff’s alleged words and actions in office," The News Reporter of Whiteville recounts. "Those included threatening to fire Black sheriff’s-office employees and intimidating public officials. With Greene no longer in office, the court then dismissed its removal hearing against him, but Greene continued to seek and would later win re-election."

Columbus County (Wikipedia map)

Almost immediately after he was sworn in Dec. 29, David "filed a petition in court seeking — for the second time — to have Greene permanently removed from office, the Durham Herald-Sun reported that day. Greene's swearing-in was "delayed by post-election protests and clouded by state and federal investigations," noted The News Reporter, which published the DA's petition. After Greene's resignation, the weekly published a video in which Publisher Justin Smith debriefed reporter Joesph Williams, who covered the hearing.

Beginning in the fall of 2022, "Greene’s leadership of the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office has been under fire when a local TV news station revealed recordings of Greene referring to deputies in his department as 'Black bastards' and 'snakes,'" Dukes and Brosseau report. "With Greene’s resignation, Chief Deputy Kevin Norris will take over as interim sheriff until the Columbus County Board of Commissioners appoints a replacement."

At this time, David plans to continue his inquiry. “Nothing about Jody Greene’s resignation today changes the fact that there is a comprehensive investigation which is ongoing and will persist into the future not just against Sheriff Greene, but into the deputies under his command,” David told the Observer, adding that his office "will also undertake a 'systematic review' of cases to ensure investigations by the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office 'rest on firm foundations'."