News
Former Triad ABC Law Enforcement head pleads guilty to theft
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Published: July 8, 2008
Updated: 07/08/2008 05:14 pm
The former head of the Triad Municipal ABC Law Enforcement entered a plea agreement yesterday, admitting that he stole money that the FBI planted as a part of uncover investigation.
Danny Ray Burton signed the agreement in which he will plead guilty to two counts of theft of more than $1,000 in government property, federal-court records show. He will appear at 2 p. m. Wednesday in U. S. District Court in Greensboro.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Burton faces one to 10 years in prison, a fine up to $350,000 and he might be put on supervised release for three years.
Burton's attorney, David Freedman of Winston-Salem, said that Burton never denied his guilt and accepts responsibility for his actions. Lynne Klauer, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Greensboro, declined to comment on Burton's plea agreement.
Federal agents received information that ABC agents that Burton had stolen money seized in their investigations, a court record shows. FBI agents then began undercover operation in which Burton "was given an opportunity to steal" money from illegal gambling operation on May 2.
Agents placed $6,584 that belonged to the FBI in a bank bag with gambling paraphernalia. The bag was placed in a car operated by an undercover agent, the record says.
An ABC agent called Burton to tell him that he had seen someone receive a bank bag from another person known to engage in illegal gambling and that the unknown person had driven it to a shopping center-parking lot. Burton then came to the scene and participated in the seizure of the bag from undercover agent's car.
Burton took the bag to the ABC office and put it in his evidence locker that only he had access to, the court record said. On May 6, Burton retrieved the bag from his evidence locker and watched at ABC agents counted the money. The count revealed that $1,040 had been removed, and Burton was arrested the next day.
Burton admitted to federal authorities that he took the money from the May 2 seizure and that he had stolen seized money on at least one prior occasion, the record says. He had $160 from the bank bag when he was arrested.
An additional $720 that had been removed from the bank bag was recovered from Burton's evidence locker, the record says. The locker contained evidence bags from prior ABC seizures, and were marked as containing specific amounts of money. The bags had been opened and no longer contained any money.
The Winston-Salem Journal reported on May 8 that federal agents videotaped Burton as he handled the bank gag during the fake gambling bust, used aerial surveillance to follow him home and recorded conversations between Burton and agents involved in the fake arrest.
John Hinton can be reached at 727-7299 or at jhinton@wsjournal.com.
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