Ex-Chadbourn police chief stole hundreds of pills, $32K in cash, guns from evidence locker, warrants allege

APRIL 21, 2021

CHADBOURN, N.C. (WECT) - The former top cop in the town of Chadbourn repeatedly raided the police department's evidence room and stole a variety of narcotics, thousands of dollars in cash, and firearms, arrest warrants released on Tuesday allege.

William Anthony Spivey, 35, of Fair Bluff, was taken into custody by SBI agents Monday afternoon and charged with 73 offenses which include:

• 31 felony counts alter, steal, or destroy evidence
• 31 felony counts embezzlement by public official
• 4 felony counts trafficking opiates by possession
• 4 felony counts trafficking opiates/opioids by transportation
• 2 counts obtaining controlled substance by prescription misrepresentation
• 1 count obtaining controlled substance by fraud

Arrest warrants show the alleged offenses occurred between August 18, 2018 and March 4, 2021.

Spivey is accused of stealing from the Chadbourn Police Department's evidence room at least:

• $32,186.51 in cash
• Two handguns and a rifle
• 367 doses of Xanax
• 1 dose of hydrocodone
• 131 doses of Percocet
• 26.5 oxycodone
• 1 Oxycontin
• 1 ecstasy pill
• 2 clonazepam pills
• 3 Suboxone doses
• 2 doses of MDMA
• 1 dose of alprazolam
• 47 doses of methadone
• .48 grams and .62 grams of cocaine
• 3 buprenorphine strips
• 10 doses of amphetamine
• 11 "white pills" stamped "L484"
• Pill bottle containing prescription pills
• 18 "green" pills

The warrants state all of the items stolen from the evidence room were relevant to criminal offenses.

Spivey is also accused of providing a false police report to a family nurse practitioner on May 4, 2020, which claimed that a 90-count oxycodone prescription that he had filled five days prior had been stolen. Spivey then obtained a new, 75-count prescription of oxycodone, according to warrants.

Warrants also allege that in 2017, Spivey fraudulent obtained a prescription of oxycodone by withholding information from a medical physician that he had previously had a prescription filled by another practitioner.

Spivey is initially booked into the Columbus County Jail under a $665,000 bond. For security reasons, he was transferred to the Bladen County Jail while he awaited his first court appearance in Columbus County Tuesday afternoon.

During that first appearance, a judge raised Spivey's bond to $750,000 despite District Attorney Jon David requesting a $1 million bond. If Spivey manages to make bond, he must disclose where the funds came from.

Also, David said 18 cases involving the Chadbourn Police Department were dismissed this morning because of Spivey's arrest. Eight cases were dismissed last week.

"I think this is just the tip of the iceberg," David told WECT following Tuesday's court appearance.

Spivey's arrest comes after the SBI opened an investigation into misconduct allegations within the Chadbourn Police Department at David's request.

In a letter sent to Interim Town Manager Jerome Chestnut on March 4, David said that the town's police department had "neglected to send any narcotics for chemical analysis to the State Crime Lab for a substantial period of time."

The next day Spivey was placed on paid administrative leave after David recommended he be suspended.