N.C. Correction officials reach deals with pair

By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- N.C. Department of Correction officials reached a settlement with two women that will allow them to return to the middle-management positions they occupied in the state's parole system before a shake-up last summer.

The deals will allow probation officer Cheryl Morris to regain a supervisor's post in the Durham probation office, and probation officer Cindy Faison to take a similar job in Johnston County.

Department leaders demoted both women last summer following revelations that probation staffers had failed to properly monitor convicted criminals implicated in the killings of Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato and UNC Chapel Hill student body president Eve Carson.

Faison at the time was working in the Wake County probation office, and was the boss of at least one of the probation officers who lost track of one of Carson's accused killers, Demario Atwater.

She was reassigned to the Johnston County probation office following her demotion.

Morris remained in Durham County following her demotion. She wasn't mentioned in a report last year on the department's monitoring of Atwater and the other suspect in Carson's death, Laurence A. Lovette Jr., as being involved in those problems.

But a later inspection of the Durham office found it was in "a crisis situation" in part because of deficiencies among its chief probation and parole officers. It backed a major reorganization of the office.

Morris and Faison contested their demotions, prompting mediations by Administrative Law Judge Beecher Gray this March. The settlements followed within two or three months.

"The best thing I can tell you is we looked at the situation with our attorneys, and these settlements were what the agency saw as the best way to put the issue behind us and keep moving in a positive direction," Department of Correction spokesman Keith Acree said.

The lawyers were from the state attorney general's office. Its spokeswoman, Noelle Talley, said Wednesday the "ultimate decision about whether or not to settle" had remained with the Department of Correction.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Beverly Perdue noted that the correction department has new leaders who took office early this year.

"Today we find an entirely new management team in place, one for which the governor has high expectations," Perdue press secretary Chrissy Pearson said. "Already changes have been made that will significantly improve the way probation and parole cases are handled, and will ensure greater safety for our citizens."

Both Morris and Faison were told following the settlement to wait for chief's positions to open. The Durham office has nine, all still occupied. Each chief supervises seven to 10 line-level probation officers.

Acree said the Durham office will merge with the probation operation for Orange and Chatham counties in October. The merged office will have 12 chief probation and parole officers. The chiefs work for a district manager.

Local officials had supported last year's shakeup but on Wednesday held their fire for lack of information.

"I don't want to weigh in," said County Commissioner Ellen Reckhow, co-chair of the Durham Crime Cabinet. "I don't know enough about the intricacies of those personnel matters."

But the Crime Cabinet is meeting Friday, and the Department of Correction is likely to come in for renewed criticism.

City Councilman Mike Woodard said this week's he's not happy that two teens implicated in break-ins in Durham and Orange County were arrested while wearing ankle monitors Police Chief Jose Lopez thought were handled by the probation office.

It's not entirely clear who ordered the teens to wear the monitors or was responsible for checking them. The arrests occurred in the spring, but the teens were convicted of felony charges only about two weeks ago.

But Woodard intends to raise the matter Friday. He noted that the point of using the monitors is to make sure people aren't out committing crimes.

"We ought to be stopping this kind of thing," Woodard said.