Storm update
Prison visiting, community volunteer passes, home leaves and work release employment activities that were paused for the winter storm are scheduled to resume Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Press Releases
Central Prison Warden Carlton Joyner has been promoted to the position of deputy director for administration in the state prison system. He will assist Director George Solomon and Deputy Director for Operations Kenneth Lassiter in overseeing the state’s 56 prisons.
During today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Breaking the Cycle: Mental Health and the Justice System,” committee members heard testimony from criminal justice experts, including David Guice, the Commissioner of North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Division of Adult Correction and Juvenile Justice.
The State HIghway Patrol has identified the driver suspected of striking and killing a Lumberton teenager as he walked along Wire Grass Road just outside of the city limits of Lumberton in Robeson County.Troopers identified the driver as Michael Lenell Dortch, 45, of Lumberton. Dortch voluntarily turned himself in to investigators on Tuesday, Feb. 9. In addition, a vehicle described as a 2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor, was seized.
State and local law enforcement officers and federal agents teamed up last week for a compliance operation focused on violent felons and gang members on probation or parole in Mecklenburg County. Operation Big Game from Feb. 1-5 resulted in 18 arrests and the seizures of weapons and drugs, including 15 firearms and quantities of cocaine, marijuana, heroin, Ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine. Officers recovered more than $2,600 in cash and a stolen motorcycle. Two of the seized firearms were determined to be stolen.
This afternoon Duke Energy notified the emergency management agencies for the state, Brunswick and New Hanover counties of damaged electrical equipment at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant near Southport. The utility declared an Alert in accordance with procedures. It is important to know that there is no risk to public health or safety, nor is any expected.
Inmate Bernard Sanford #0898557 was found unresponsive this morning in his cell at Maury Correctional Institution, after an apparent suicide. Medical staff responded and attempted to revive him but they were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead by a prison doctor shortly after 4 a.m.The Greene County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death.
Members of the North Carolina Helo-Aquatic Rescue Team, known as NCHART, rescued a man Monday night who was stranded near the top of Mt. Pisgah after the cable car used to transport him to and from TV transmitting equipment stopped working, leaving him about 400 feet down an embankment in more than two feet of snow.
While roads conditions are improving and power is being restored across much of North Carolina, Governor Pat McCrory urged residents to remain cautious as they venture out.
As temperatures remained low with no prospect for thawing until Sunday, Governor Pat McCrory said that safety was still the top concern for him and the state emergency operations team. With icy roadways and little chance of any thawing today, he urged the public to remain patient and not venture out onto the roads too soon.
In a briefing at Emergency Operations Center Saturday morning, Governor Pat McCrory urged citizens to stay vigilant during the first significant winter storm of the season. The governor asked residents and businesses to remain mindful of hazardous travel conditions, stay home whenever possible, and monitor their local forecasts as a significant winter storm continues to impact North Carolina.