RALEIGH -- The North Carolina Highway Patrol captain who once headed former Gov. Mike Easley's security detail has been removed from his supervisory post after the state's crime control boss learned some of Easley's flight records were deleted.
Gov. Beverly Perdue said late Tuesday that copies of the Highway Patrol's internal affairs investigation of the missing flight records are confidential and cannot be released. She said she has been told the probe is privileged information in the eye of state law.
Crime Control Secretary Reuben Young put Capt. Alan Melvin back on administrative duty and requested an independent investigation of missing flight records of Easley's travels, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Tuesday.
Young was concerned about new information that a highway patrol secretary told the newspaper about the missing records, patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said.
Diane Bumgardner, a secretary assigned to the governor's security detail, said Melvin had told her in February 2006 to download flight records from 2003 to 2005 onto a computer disk and then give it to him, according to an internal Highway Patrol inquiry. Melvin told Bumgardner to then delete the files to "free up space on the computer."
Bumgardner said in an interview with the newspaper that she had not complained about a computer problem that required freeing up space.
Young "had not heard that information before," Clendenin said.
The internal inquiry, followed by an internal affairs investigation, determined that Melvin had not intended to remove or destroy the records. Newly appointed patrol Commander Randy Glover decided last month to put Melvin back on the job. The patrol said Friday that Melvin had returned to duty as a supervisor in the technical support unit that maintains computer networks.
Bumgardner's computer was turned over in May to federal investigators probing perks provided to Easley and his family that included free plane trips, a good price on a coastal lot and a university job for the former first lady, Mary Easley.
Melvin led Mike Easley's security detail from 2003 to 2007. He could not be reached for comment. Clendenin said Melvin does not want to be interviewed because of the federal grand jury investigation.
