Sheriff, DA Mixed up in Controversy in Catawba County!! Report by Robert A. Williams

The call came it at 2:48 PM Monday (today). The day before the Primary Election Day. The caller alleged that Sheriff Alan Norman was shown on Hickory TV political advertisements endorsing Jason Reid for the office of Sheriff of Catawba County, although Jason Reid had been disqualified by the Catawba County DA from testifying in criminal cases because Jason Reid has been determined NOT to be a credible witness. And Cleveland and Lincoln county District Attorney Mike Miller was also involved with some SBI search warrants on the Sheriff’s Office in Hickory that had been Sealed from the public. The caller said to check out the Hickory Record Newspaper. And so I did.

This is what I found:

Leading 2018 Sheriff Candidate (Catawba County) Jason Reid is the son of the present Sheriff of Catawba County Sheriff, Coy Reid, who is retiring. Which raises nepotism questions all by itself.

I confirmed the Catawba County District Attorney David Learner has indeed disqualified Jason Reid from testifying in criminal cases when a case in Lincoln County (DA Mike Miller-ADA Rich Shaffer’s territory) that was dismissed because of Jason Reid’s credibility issues. In all 59 Lincoln County narcotics cases in 2015 ended up being dismissed by Miller-Shaffer. Also, in one case Jason Reid admitted using counterfeit money and misrepresenting what agency he worked for. And the US Federal Attorney for the Western District of NC refuses to prosecute any cases that Jason Reid has any part of. Sheriff Coy Reid denied the Catawba County DA’s statements saying DA Learner was out to get the Sheriff’s Department and interfere with the 2018 Sheriff’s Election, but WSOC TV verified Learner’s Allegations statements were true.

Click HERE for that report.

[gview file=”http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Reid-Giglio-Letter.pdf”]

Another Cleveland County Connection here came to light with my own research. The Present Catawba County DA, David Learner, won election over the previous DA Jay Gaither after Gaither was sued by Whitney Nicole (Nikki) Shaffer for various sexual harassment charges right before Gaither’s re-election bid in 2014. Much about Nikki Shaffer’s lawsuit seemed fishy at the time and still does today as it was settle and a number of charges were dropped.

Nikki Shaffer is the daughter of former Cleveland County District Attorney Richard (Rick) Leroy Shaffer, Jr. who many believe cut a deal with then Assistant DA Mike Miller to take over the DA’s Office that year. My own speculation was part of that deal was for Miller to hire Nikki Shaffer into the District Attorney’s Office (Shaffer could not have hired Nikki because of Nepotism Laws but Miller could) and set up Nikki Shaffer for the High DA’s Office after Miller would retire sometime in the future and Nikki Shaffer would have some experience under her belt. And Nikki would, perhaps, keep both Miller and her daddy on as Assistant DA’s as a retirement boosting payback. Does all this speculated scheming and deception sound familiar with what is going on in Catawba County as we speak? Such as this has been going on for years.

But, there is more:

The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) became involved in the investigation of Sheriff’s Candidate Jason Reid allegedly placing a tracking device on the vehicle of an ex-girlfriend. According to reports from the Hickory Daily Record and others this is what happened:

A Lincoln County man finds a tracking device on his girlfriends car. (The man and his girlfriend were not identified.) The man makes a report to the Lincoln County Sheriff David Carpenter, who, upon determining a Catawba County Sheriff’s Candidate may be involved, turns the case over to DA Mike Miller. DA Miller gets the SBI involved. The SBI gets search warrants from Union County to search the Catawba County Sheriff’s Department offices. The Catawba County Sheriff, Coy Reid, goes to Judge buddy Daniel Kuehnert who signs an order to seal from the public the warrants and investigation. (I received information from a friend years ago that Kuehnert, as a lawyer, had “sold him out.” So, I was not surprised that Judge Kuehnert is probably a crooked Judge too.)

The Hickory Daily Reporter, unlike the Shelby Star, dug into investigating this situation and has been joined with several area TV News Channels in filing a Motion in Court to have the usually “public documents” actually made public. That is where it stands right now.

For the Hickory Daily Reporter article, Click HERE.

One has to wonder how Jason Reid himself has stayed out of prison and why Sheriff Alan Norman has chosen to allegedly personally endorse such a character. Since Cleveland County Sheriff’s Candidate Clyde Ledbetter filed for Sheriff this past Friday under the petition rule and the Board of Elections has confirmed and approved Mr. Ledbetter’s candidacy, I would expect Sheriff Alan Norman, running for re-election will be asked to explain himself in this matter. It would be even better if Sheriff Norman immediately issued a press release explaining his endorsement, especially if he wants to continue his endorsement as alleged.

Stay Tuned as more breaks on this story.

Election Day for Sheriff of Cleveland County is November 6, 2018. Hopefully there will be plenty of candidate forums between now and then.

Also, Remember the Primary Elections are tomorrow..

In the Republican Primary Election, we recommend Ted Alexander for NC Senate, Kelly Hastings for NC House and Jeff Gregory for the US Congress District.

In the Democrat Primary race we recommend you marking your ballot as shown below: