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| N.C. sheriff turns in badge after scandal |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 05/31/2004 |
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For nearly a decade, Gerald Hege was both loved and loathed as the larger-than-life embodiment of law enforcement in Davidson County, N.C. Then his career fell apart. Facing 15 felony counts in a corruption and abuse investigation, Hege pleaded guilty two weeks ago to two counts of obstruction of justice in a deal that kept him out of prison. For a sheriff who kept inmates in pink jail cells and had deputies dress up in paramilitary uniforms, it was an ignominious end - and there was no trace of his flamboyant self when he slipped out a side door of the downtown courthouse and got into the back seat of his attorney's silver Chevrolet Suburban. As his lawyers sped away, Hege's face was hidden by tinted windows. In his heyday, Hege reveled in the attention his tough-on-crime message brought him. The self-styled "toughest sheriff in America" gave press conferences from an office decked out like a military bunker and once sent out Christmas cards with a doctored photo of him holding the severed head of Osama bin Laden. He got a gig on Court TV and headed Republican tickets in this conservative county of 150,000 people just south of Winston-Salem. His Web site declared Davidson County - best known for its furniture making and Lexington-style pork barbecue - to be "Hege Country." In the days after his abrupt guilty plea, Hege has kept a low profile. He did not respond to repeated interview requests by The Associated Press and did not answer knocks on the door of his home Thursday, although he is under house arrest. He surfaced long enough to tell the Winston-Salem Journal: "There never was evidence that I took anything. I knew once you put yourself out there, they're going to get you to go. I was always prepared to be investigated." He made a similar comment to Superior Court Judge Erwin Spainhour in court last Monday. With his plea and resignation as sheriff, Hege avoided a trial on the corruption counts, as well as a court hearing to determine whether he should be removed from office. |
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