Sheriff Caught on Tape Threatening to Fire ‘Every Black’ Deputy in Racist Tirades: ‘F**k Them Black Bastards’
A sheriff up for re-election in southeastern North Carolina is being investigated after allegedly threatening to fire every Black deputy in his office more than three years ago amid a contentious election.
Columbus County Sheriff Jody Greene is facing an upcoming race against former friend and CCSO Captian Jason Soles.
Greene defeated Lewis Hatcher, who was the first ever Black sheriff in the county, in the 2018 election by only 34 votes. But as the tight race dragged out into February of 2019, Greene allegedly became paranoid and started phoning Soles with racist remarks and threats.
The captain at the time had been appointed the interim sheriff as the race was sorted out.
NBC affiliate WECT in Wilmington, North Carolina obtained some of those calls, which Soles said he recorded after becoming alarmed by Greene’s language.
The recordings show Green was apparently upset someone in the sheriff’s office was leaking information about him.
“I’m sick of it, I’m sick of these Black bastards,” Greene allegedly said on one recording. “I’m going to clean house and be done with it. And we’ll start from there.”
In other recordings, he allegedly made statements such as:
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 [my attorney and wife] 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.
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…
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… 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.
Soles recounted why he recorded the phone calls in an interview with WECT.
“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 also said his decision to release the years-old recordings was not politically-motivated.
Columbus County District Attorney Jon David has asked the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation to open a probe into whether Greene’s office is driven by bias. The investigation was granted.
Greene posted a statement on Facebook Wednesday in which he accused Soles of holding onto the recordings as a “political attack.” He also denied he holds any personal racial animous.
He referred to the calls as “alleged” but did not deny the voice heard on the recordings is his.
Watch above, via WECT.
