Southport, NC — All too often those who continuously apologize for crimes committed by police officers are able to justify some of the most egregious instances of outright murder by claiming the officer was a bad apple. Almost as often, however, as TFTP has shown numerous times, the bad apple theory is exactly that—a theory—with no evidence to support it.

Illustrating the nature of the bad apple theory is the fact that another entire police department in North Carolina was suspended recently after the department’s chief and lieutenant were arrested on conspiracy charges.

Chief Gary Smith, 46, and Lt. Michael Christian Simmons, 48, were both charged with conspiracy to obtain property by false pretenses, willful failure to discharge duties, and obstruction of justice, according to CBS17.

As CBS17 reports:

State investigators said Smith and Simmons were driving overnight shifts for an unnamed local trucking company during the same hours they had claimed on their daily activity reports for the Southport Police Department.

David said Smith and Simmons’ duties for the trucking company routinely required them to be out of town and even out of the county.

Smith was taken into custody Thursday morning and booked into the Brunswick County Detention Center under a $10,000 unsecured bond. He was later released after posting bail.

Simmons was taken into custody during Thursday afternoon’s news conference announcing the results of the investigation.

“It is indeed that I get before you today with a heart laden with grief for all these events that happened today,” said Mayor Jerry Dove. “It was a shock to me to hear all these, being a former chief and knowing the officers that worked in that department and hired at least half of them.”

For the time being, the Brunswick County sheriff’s office has moved in to cover for the duties of the police department and there are no issues…..more here