In response to a public records request made after mass firings from the Guilford County Sheriff’s Department two weeks ago, the department has provided a list of the names of all employees fired by new Sheriff Danny Rogers.
Rogers, who beat former longtime Sheriff BJ Barnes in the Tuesday, Nov. 6 election, said at the time of the firings that he needed officers who wouldn’t try to undermine his efforts out of a misplaced loyalty to Barnes. He also said his team did an excellent job of fully vetting employees to find out which ones needed to be let go.
At the time of the firings, Barnes said he believed the number to be 27. The list provided on Monday, Dec. 10 by the Sheriff’s Department contained 25 names.
Here is the list released by the Sheriff’s Department of full time employees who were fired: Major Jeffrey Rollins, Major Jonathan Jacobs, Deputy Bailiff Doug Garland, Human Resources Coordinator Tanya Roach, Colonel/Chief Deputy Randy Powers, Lieutenant Dwane Wood, Detention Officer Bettina Vredenburg, Master Corporal Michael Porto, Detention Officer Abigail Bartholomew, Sergeant Darryl Lanier, Master Corporal Bernard Evans, Sergeant-Deputy Eric League, and Deputy James Sykes.
The list released by the Sheriff’s Department also includes Captain Gary McDaniel, who oversaw the bailiffs as well as the department’s activities in the Guilford County court system. A footnote next to McDaniel’s name states “Captain McDaniel retired voluntarily as of Friday, Nov. 30, 2018.”
The list of people Rogers fired includes 11 employees classified as “Retiree Call Backs,” people who were working for the Sheriff’s Department on a part-time basis. Barnes said at the time of the firings that those employees were doing valuable work for the department, which was relying on their years of experience and their expertise in a number of significant ways. Rogers, on the other hand, stated at the time that those employees were making a negligible contribution to the department and they needed to be let go to streamline things.
The document released by the Sheriff’s Department did not identify the rank of the retiree call-back employees that Rogers fired. That list includes Debbie Montgomery, James Sheppard, Tim Mabe, Gary Hastings, Lawrence Straughn, Steven Collins, Deborah Lemonds, Clarence Williamson, James Coleman, Wayne Howlett and Ken Watkins.
Many on of those officers played extremely important roles during their years with the department. For instance, before retiring, Debbie Montgomery was Barnes “right-hand woman” who oversaw wide-range of department divisions.
The termination date for all employees on the list, with the exception of McDaniel, was Monday, Dec. 3 – the day Rogers was sworn in as the new sheriff.
Were they all white?
This is sad. Thank you each who have served Guilford County residents and kept us safe. We appreciate your dedication and know how hard you worked on our behalf.
Deborah, you need to learn to read. It has nothing to do with being white.
I am white and I understand this.
You are a shame bringing race in here.
Danny Rogers did the right thing.
Next Danny Rogers should focus on the training part of the sheriff’s office. They should be fired. All the guys that run the training.
Austin,
I believe your comments should have been directed to Brian, not Deborah. Copying from above comments:
“Brian on December 10, 2018 at 8:36 pm
Were they all white?”
I believe Brian’s question is reasonable. You can be sure that the Democrats and other black supremacists would have been demanding to know the racial make up of those fired if a white Republican had defeated a black Democrat. Scott, please publish the racial percentages for those fired.
Now we need to know their races?? Why? no one cared that Barnes was in offices for over 20 plus yeas and over 90% of the deputies on the road or in administration positions were whites with no career advancement in sight for any other officers of color. Just like Barnes had the right fire when he took office, Rogers has the same rights.
The problem isn’t so much the department but the department and the public. This man hasn’t been given a chance but because he’s black & a Democrat you already making it an issue. No Bob, Deborah & Brian are sad individuals…let the man do his job