Embattled NC sheriff resigns again before DA details accusations against him in court
Columbus County’s embattled sheriff has resigned yet again, just moments after the start of a second court hearing to remove him from office.
A superior court judge Wednesday said the announcement effectively ended District Attorney Jon David’s effort to remove Jody 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’s leadership of the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office has been under fire since the fall of 2022, when a local TV news station revealed recordings of Greene referring to deputies in his department as “Black bastards” and “snakes.”
Prompted by those recordings, David in early October convinced a judge to suspend Greene from office. The district attorney prepared a petition seeking to have the sheriff removed from office but dropped that effort after Greene resigned the first time later that month.
But the allegations did little to slow Greene’s 2022 re-election to the post — a race he won by 54%, despite the recordings and mounting accusations of corruption and misconduct.
Shortly after Greene was sworn in last month for a second term, David resumed his efforts to get the sheriff removed and disqualified, citing multiple allegations of intimidation, abuse of authority, racial discrimination and an inappropriate sexual relationship with a detective.
Announcing Greene’s resignation in court Wednesday, the former sheriff’s attorney said actions to remove his client from office, as well as several ongoing investigations, have taken an emotional and financial toll on Greene and his family.
Greene continued his re-election campaign, attorney Michael Mills said, to make sure that voters, not the district attorney, got to decide the next sheriff.
“He has accomplished that,” Mills said.
In a press conference after the hearing was adjourned Wednesday morning, David said the county was “entering a new era of leadership” without Greene, whose actions “shook the foundations” of the criminal justice system.
“The will of the voters should be respected, absent a compelling reason to do so,” David said. “While elections are a popularity contest, constitutional rights belong to everyone.”
Ongoing investigations and case reviews
With Greene’s resignation, Chief Deputy Kevin Norris will take over as interim sheriff until the Columbus County Board of Commissioners appoints a replacement.
And Greene, who did not speak during Wednesday’s hearing, may face more days in court.
An order to seal a search warrant affidavit that was filed in state court last month referred to an “on-going investigation involving numerous state and federal agencies,” including the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
On Wednesday, David referenced a related criminal probe by the State Bureau of Investigation but declined to elaborate.
“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 said.
His office will also undertake a “systematic review” of cases to ensure investigations by the Columbus County Sheriff’s Office “rest on firm foundations.”
David pointed out that Superior Court Judge Douglas Sasser Wednesday did not rule on whether Greene would be banned from holding office in the future. The judge, David said, held open other options.
“He made very clear to the state that I would always have the remedy of filing a motion to remove and disqualify even Deputy Jody Greene, and we will certainly keep an open mind to do that,” David said. “This office has been very consistent with where we stand on this issue: We simply do not feel as though Jody Greene is someone who ever carries a badge again.”
A history of scandal
Greene faced scandals even before he was first elected sheriff in 2018.
Voters questioned his hiring of a political firm responsible for an illegal ballot gathering scheme that overturned a 2018 congressional election. Other challengers asserted Greene didn’t live in the county — a requirement for his candidacy.
Greene’s slim electoral win — just 37 votes — survived, and he took the oath of office in 2019.
But the controversy around Greene’s tenure intensified in September, when Wilmington TV news station WECT revealed the details of an expletive-laden 2019 recording where the sheriff raged against “Black bastards” in the department conspiring against his campaign, promising to “clean house and be done with it.”
“I’m still the (expletive) sheriff, and I’ll go up and fire every (expletive) (inaudible)” Greene said in the recording. “(Expletive) them Black bastards. They think I’m scared? They’re stupid.”
The recordings were captured by Jason Soles, who ran against Greene as a Democrat in 2022 but had previously served as one of his deputies.
Green’s comments prompted outrage from community members including the local NAACP chapter, which called on him to resign. The N.C. Sheriff’s Association said in a statement that the comments “shock the conscience” and called them “inflammatory, racially derogatory, insulting and offensive.”
In a long statement during that period, Greene denied any “malice intent” and dismissed the release of the recording as a political attack.
A majority of voters sided with him just months later when he edged out Soles by more than 1,500 votes.
This story was originally published January 4, 2023 at 11:24 AM with the headline "Embattled NC sheriff resigns again before DA details accusations against him in court."