RALEIGH, N.C (WNCN) — A former Wayne County sheriff’s deputy has been sentenced to over six years in prison for his role in drug trafficking and fraud operations while on the job. Michael Kenneth Cox pleaded guilty to the charges earlier this year.
Cox worked for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office from 1996 until he retired as the head of the drug unit in 2018.
Cox was indicted on about a dozen charges. He was accused of taking part in a scheme to steer contracts for Wayne County Sheriff’s Office vehicles to his own business. This was regardless of whether Cox’s company provided such work at the lowest price as required by the Wayne County procurement requirements.
Along with the fraud charges, Cox was indicted for conspiring with multiple drug traffickers to distribute and possess with the intent to distribute cocaine and oxycodone and two counts of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to prosecutors.
Federal documents show Cox was sentenced to six years on two of the counts against him followed by three years of supervised release. The remainder of the charges against him were dropped.
During a Wednesday afternoon press conference, United States Attorney Michael Easley said Cox’s crimes were uncovered during a large drug trafficking investigation in eastern North Carolina called “Operation Polar Bear.” Investigators got information that some traffickers were being helped by members of law enforcement.
According to Easley, Cox “actively protected drug traffickers” and helped them dodge allegations by saying they were informants. Easley also said that at one point Cox provided a false alibi for an alleged shooter.
“He put his men and women in law enforcement in jeopardy,” Easley said.
Cox and his co-conspirator, fellow Wayne County Sheriff’s Office employee Christopher Worth — who is scheduled to be sentenced next month — worked together to take taxpayers’ money from the county through unfair bids, Easley said.
“Bids were cooked,” said Easley. “They conspired together to make sure Cox would always win the bid.”
The U.S. Attorney emphasized that for the few bad law enforcement members in this case, there were several more that worked with investigators to root out the corrupt actors.
“This case highlights how fragile our system really is and how fragile our rule of law is,” Easley said. “Every once in a while, the devil gets one of us.”
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