A former narcotics detective won’t have to face opiate trafficking charges just yet.
Clay Keel, head of the Lenoir County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Division when he resigned on Dec. 19, 2011, had been scheduled to make an appearance in Lenoir County Superior Court on June 11. That date was bumped to the week of June 24 because of the Marlon Williams murder trial.
Keel attorney Dal Wooten III will be on a planned vacation that week, so the case will be continued again.
Wooten said he wasn’t sure when his client would tried, as of now.
“I do not know at this time,” Wooten said. “They sent us a lot of discovery and Mr. Keel and I are trying to go through it right now.”
A grand jury indicted Keel on March 25 on one count of trafficking 14-28 grams of an opiate by possession. In 2011, the State Bureau of Investigation looked into Keel and documented his activities over a period of four months.
When Keel spoke to a group at Bethel Christian Church in May 2011, he held up a bottle of Hydrocodone pills and of prescription opiate abuse, said, “It is quickly becoming our biggest problem here.”
Keel began his service with the LCSO on June 7, 1999 and was promoted to the Narcotics Division on June 9, 2003. The LCSO has declined to comment on the case because it resulted from an SBI investigation, but Sheriff Chris Hill — then the LCSO chief of administration — said Keel’s resignation from the force had nothing to do with his arrest for drug trafficking 11 days later.
In June 2012, a suspected drug trafficker wrote to The Free Press, alleging Keel tampered with evidence in his case. Raphael Rogers, and his wife Gloria Jean Doughty, were both indicted on four counts of trafficking opium or heroin. Rogers alleged Keel stole the heroin in his case and swapped it with cocaine, procaine and caffeine.
“Lab reports and discovery will prove this fact,” Rogers wrote. “So my question is how long has he been doing this in other drug cases? He didn’t just start stealing and swapping drugs in my case? This has been ongoing for who knows how long.”
Rogers’ and Doughty’s hearings in Superior Court have also been postponed until the week of June 24.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 and Wes.Wolfe@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.