Part II: Ernie Physically and Emotionally Abuses His Female Staff | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: If anyone finds fault with the veracity of these well considered words by former Chief Deputy Harry Meredith, we implore you to please take issue with what Mr. Meredith considers to be true right here on BCN, either by comment or by posted article, and you will receive all the space that is reasonable to refute these allegations.

    These articles from Chief Deputy Harry Meredith, Ret. are showing a consistent pattern of data, and an intent to express what he believes to be true. The entirety of these ongoing posts can be found archived here.


Part I: Ernie Physically and Emotionally Abuses His Female Staff can be found here.


    I see that Ernie had a fund raiser in Bath Saturday night that was well attended by his staff and a few other people. From the pictures he posted, there were a number of patrol cars in the parking lot. If they received a call in Aurora, it was going to be a long ride from Bath. Most of the pictures taken of people were from the back so it was hard to identify most of those attending.

    From the posted pictures, it looked Mayor Mobley, Reggie Fountain and Wayne Woolard from Bath attended. It is possible that they did not read my articles on Beaufort County Now detailing how Ernie got caught lying to a federal Judge, inappropriately touching his female staff in front of young Deputies, making inappropriate comments about his female staff body parts in front of Deputies, and allowing his Chief Deputy to instruct the young Deputies how to race patrol cars from Washington to Chocowinity. Mayor Mobley, consider warning the people of Chocowinity to stay off Highway 17 at night for their own safety.

    In Part I of this article, I detailed how Ernie exerts and displays his dominance over his staff by abusing those that are not able to defend themselves. He alone has complete control over their lives. Even the Chief Deputy tells anyone that objects to Ernie's behavior to shut up and mind their own business. Today I am going to talk about Callie and Teresa to illustrate how demeaning Ernie is to women and how this impacts the entire organization.

    Right now, Ernie has chosen Callie as his target of abuse in the workplace. I gave her an opportunity to speak with me about this in an effort to end Ernie's abuse. She chose not to speak with me, and I can understand her decision. She has a good job in the front office and makes what many would consider a lot of money. I am not here to diminish her contributions to the Sheriff's Office at all; however, I want to put her salary into perspective for the reader. Ernie has increased her pay to $65,000.00 as of February 2021 according to a published list and I am confident it is more now.

    As a comparison, Jim VanLandingham, who is a Lieutenant in charge of Investigations and nearing the end of a thirty-year career makes $67,000.00. I have said several times that the list of arbitrary raises Ernie bestows on select staff detailed in Hood Richardson's articles shows a pattern of buying silence and loyalty. Another example to illustrate the salary disparities is Narcotics Investigator David Richards who has at least twenty-five years of service to the county and makes $52,000.00. This would lead some to believe David cannot satisfy Ernie's needs and is just a regular employee.

    My efforts to locate Callie took me to Pitt County. I drove over there with a witness to speak with her. She and her husband live quite a distance off the main paved road, and about halfway down the gravel road a pickup truck was coming out, and I met Callie's husband, Wayne, on his way to work. He has a yard work/landscaping business. I stopped, identified myself and asked him if he would talk with me. He agreed. I told him several people had approached me about Ernie having inappropriate physical contact with his wife. (This information is detailed in Part I on Beaufort County Now). He indicated he was aware of this situation but did not want to say much about it. He wanted his wife to handle it as she thinks best. He is concerned and troubled by the situation and both are at a loss as to what can be done. At this point in time, both feel it is best to just endure and hope for a change in the future.

    A loss of more than $65,000.00 a year would be devastating for them, especially during the winter. I could tell from his body language and reluctance to speak freely that he was concerned about the consequences of anything he said. He is extremely upset about the situation but cannot think of a positive course of action that does not involve an income loss for his family. Looking at his home site and considering how he presented himself, I could tell he is a private man that makes his own way in life and prefers to be left alone for the most part. He is not interested in engaging in a battle with a Sheriff no matter how embarrassing the situation.

    Until now, this matter has remained contained to the Sheriff's Office personnel and a few others. This is exactly how Ernie operates. He keeps his actions contained to those he can control with threats of dismissal or, in Callie's case, huge raises. I want to add a side note here that I will explore in future articles. Ernie has lost 91 employees in the last six years from a staff of 95. This turnover is hard to comprehend. No wonder he had to create his own HR Director to keep up with the paperwork. I guess the slightly trained Deputies are training the completely untrained Deputies. This is a recipe for disaster.

    Another example of Ernie's complete disrespect for women is his touching of Teresa, a former Communicator at the Sheriff's Office. Ernie found it amusing to poke her in the belly and comment on her fat rolls in front of the Deputies. As you can imagine, this was humiliating for her, but she had no recourse since it was the Sheriff doing this and he only answers to the people. Her only recourse was to cry away the embarrassment.

    What does this teach the young Deputies that emulate the actions of the Sheriff? They see that they can take liberties with females and the weak and defenseless. Should you be concerned about a Deputy stopping your wife or daughter in the county on a lonely road? Hopefully, they have a better moral compass than the Sheriff does. Ernie's actions in front of impressionable young Deputies should cause people concern. He does not hide his actions in the office and this is what we actually know about. Law enforcement officers have a lot of power and Ernie is demonstrating his unbridled power over those he is entrusted to protect. People living in this county and those that work for him should not fear him. His angry persona is nothing more than the mask of an insecure child hoping his true self and insecurities will not be discovered.

    He has been fairly successful in hiding his actions so far from the public. We will see if Ernie comes out from under a rock and exposes himself to questions about what he has done. His strategy this election cycle will be to hide from the public hoping this information will not reach the general public and impact the election. He tells us almost every day he is a constitutional officer and only answers to the people. If he can hide the truth from the people, he can survive. He will not be re-elected on his record, his treatment of people, his veracity or his Christian compassion for others. With people like Ashley Vansant of the WDN and the uninvolved corporate entity WITN facilitating this, he may be successful. The Beaufort County Republican Party so far has done their part to suppress this information too by remaining silent and not calling for answers or even a forum to air the issues. The Commissioners have no control over the Sheriff; however, they have a duty to offer sanctuary to Beaufort County staff that suffer under Ernie's tyrannical rule. Hood Richardson has always been an advocate of truth and transparency and it is time for him to step up and protect those he has sworn to serve.

    Ernie's absence in the Aurora forum illustrates his need to hide from public view to maintain his undeserved position of protector of the people of Beaufort County. He will, however, plan and attend an Ernie Coleman For Sheriff fund raiser where he can bathe in the adoration of staff, political friends and contributors that ignore his actions and never question anything he does. An informed public will remove this tyrant from public office forever.
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Comments

( January 22nd, 2022 @ 7:18 pm )
 
I like to read ancient history so I have to ask you these questions as a family member of mine served for Sheriff Sheppard and then briefly with your boss, Alan Jordan.

How many of these scandals happened under your command and were brushed under the rug? I'm reminded of steroids (roid rage on employees and the community at large), several alleged mysterious deaths involving alleged deputies and/or the Sheriff himself. This was all discussed in open conversation at a local firearm/tackle shop that is no longer open..when I was a child💊.

I wonder how many people, both men and women, the former regime assaulted? I also heard about an alleged video that involved someone in high command and a male inmate some years ago....again under the former regime of democrats who now parade around as "Conservatives".

As in the Anderson case, that mysteriously popped up around the last Sheriff's race; this alleged evidence everyone has needs to be disclosed publicly. I think BCN would be more than glad to publish anything that is vetted and credible. Everyone talked a big game with the Anderson case BUT evidence that was said to have been had by the family was never disclosed.

Until the alleged evidence is disclosed, I will continue to believe that this is reminiscent of "We Won't Get Fooled Again"....."meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Are you planning another political run, Mr. Meredith? I've heard through certain networks that you plan on becoming Hammonds' Chief Deputy IF he is somehow elected.....by the Legion of Doom👌.

Do you care to answer this publicly?

I'm not attacking you. I'm just asking questions that noone seems to ask publicly. Future proves past. Fix 2020 and stop playing "politics as usual". Also, actual polls are showing that "Conservatives" who proclaim BiDan as president, refuse to Fix 2020 by using deflections and refuse to align with President Trump aren't doing so hot.
( January 20th, 2022 @ 2:24 pm )
 
BCN is a First Amendment advocate, second to none in the region, so Beaufort County NOW will always provide space to anyone who has knowledge that they wish to present what they believe to be true, so we ask ad nauseum:


If anyone finds fault with the veracity of these well considered words by former Chief Deputy Harry Meredith, we implore you to please take issue with what Mr. Meredith considers to be true right here on BCN, either by comment or by posted article, and you will receive all the space that is reasonable to refute these allegations.



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