Two Robeson County deputies are no longer working after an investigation with the DA’s office.
“Recently an Internal Investigation was conducted regarding information received from the Robeson County District Attorney’s Office,” says a press release from the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office. After preliminary findings, the information led to the suspension of Major Anthony Thompson and Investigator Darryl McPhatter.
On January 9, Sheriff Burnis Wilkins received a resignation and retirement letter from Thompson, who served a total of about 34 years in law enforcement.
“Based on the findings of fact during the Internal Investigation,” Sheriff Wilkins terminated McPhatter’s employment with the sheriff’s office on Thursday morning.
“The dedicated men and women of the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office are proud public servants. My expectations of them are to serve the public with the utmost respect and to the best of their ability as trained law enforcement professionals,” Sheriff Wilkins states in the release.
In December, Sheriff Wilkins announced Thompson and McPhatter were suspended with pay “pending the final outcome of an internal investigation.”
Wilkins said he could not comment on the reason(s) for the suspensions at the time. He also would not say if the suspensions were related to the handling of a 2016 rape case that is currently part of an internal review at the Robeson County Sheriff’s Office.
The 2016 rape was linked to Michael Ray McLellan. McLellan is the suspect arrested and charged in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 13-year-old Hania Aguilar.
Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt said DNA linked McLellan to a rape in 2016, but he said the Robeson County Sheriff’s office did not follow up on the information when his office sent it to the sheriff’s office.
