2016 police report: Former Cary town manager’s car spotted at suspected drug site
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Cary under scrutiny
The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News & Observer.
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Less than a month after Sean Stegall began working as Cary town manager, police detectives spotted his vehicle at a hotel that was under investigation for drug selling, and followed it back to his home, according to a report released in response to a News & Observer public records request.
The report said a man dressed in casual clothing pulled into the Harrison Hotel at 607 East Chatham St. and appeared to meet with a suspected “supplier” in the storage room. Detectives followed him as he left and called in the license plate of the silver Cadillac he was driving. It had an Illinois license plate, which came back to Stegall.
The car continued to Stegall’s address, where the man got out. The 2016 report, released Thursday, does not identify who the man is.
“These documents are concerning and raise many questions, questions for which we don’t have answers, and we won’t speculate on what happened nearly 10 years ago in the absence of facts and further evidence,” Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said in a news release.
Cary Police Chief Terry Sult said in the news release that no charges were filed against Stegall after the surveillance.
“No charges were ever brought against Mr. Stegall in this matter, and there’s nothing in my inquiry that warrants further action,” Sult wrote.
Neither the police report nor statements from Weinbrecht and Sult note if any further investigations took place. The N&O has reached out to Stegall seeking comment.
In an email obtained by The N&O, acting Town Manager Russ Overton alerted “colleagues” that “difficult for me to process” records were being released to the public. “These records appear to tell an incomplete story of what, if anything, was uncovered by surveilling the former town manager or others under watch,” it reads.
Weinbrecht said in the news release the town “will continue our work to learn all there is to know about what occurred under Sean’s management, be transparent about our processes, and take appropriate actions consistent with our legal obligations and our values.” He declined a reporter’s request for further comment.
A still-unfolding story
The N&O on Jan. 20 requested Cary records related to police surveillance of 607 East Chatham St., which previously was home to a small cluster of rental units. It has since been torn down. The N&O sought calls from the police department’s drug and vice unit related to that address from May 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017.
The report released is dated Aug. 26, 2016. Stegall was hired from the City of Elgin, Ill., in May that year and started working for the town on Aug. 4.
The N&O also sought any related reports, memos, correspondence and notes involving the following officials: then Deputy Manager Mike Bajorek, Chief Human Resources Officer Renee Poole, then Police Chief Tony Godwin and two officers: Sgt. John Maia and Senior Police Officer Scott Schulz.
Stegall resigned as Cary town manager in December after town council members placed him on administrative leave the previous month. He had served in that role for nearly a decade and was listed in state pension records as making a $366,054 salary in 2024.
Two public records requests filed in September and October by someone who identified themselves as “A. Williams” produced records that identified what town officials described as extravagant spending. Those records and additional N&O reporting revealed:
- The town paid $37,397 for Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush’s tuition for a master’s degree in Northwestern University’s Public Policy Program. Bush told The N&O she repaid the tuition after concerns were raised.
- The town spent $1 million on land without the council’s full knowledge for affordable housing. Town staff had emailed Bush that they didn’t recommend buying the land. Weinbrecht confirmed in December that the full council was unaware of the purchase.
- Stegall submitted a lost-receipt form for $3,400 spent at a hotel “for multiple staff” during the 2023 International City/County Management Association’s annual conference in Austin. But documents obtained by The N&O show that staff attending the conference stayed at a different hotel.
- The town spent at least $150,000 to produce and promote a book, in part, lauding Stegall’s vision for municipal leadership. Weinbrecht did not know town money was being spent on the book, he said in a blog post after The N&O’s reporting detailed the cost.
External investigations underway
Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman and Sult have asked the State Bureau of Investigation to open a criminal probe into town spending — including transactions made by Stegall. That happened after the State Auditor’s Office shared information on Jan. 12 on “potential criminal activity.”
State Auditor Dave Boliek has said a review of procurement card use found “several transactions that are potentially indicative of fraud.”
Weinbrecht said during his State of Cary address Wednesday morning he didn’t think probes into Stegall’s spending by Wake County DA and State Bureau of Investigation would yield anything substantial.
“I don’t know if they will find anything. I would be surprised if they do,” Weinbrecht said. “The important thing to understand right now is so far, nothing’s illegal but just unethical.”
Despite the concerns over Stegall’s spending, the town agreed to pay him a severance equalling six months pay, or $198,832, as part of accepting his resignation. Weinbrecht said at the time the town had no choice.
“If we broke the contract, there’s a disparaging clause in the contract,” he said. “If we violated that or if he did not sign that, then he could sue the town and say anything he wanted and make up the stuff, who knows. To protect the town, to protect our citizens, to protect us going forward, we needed him to sign that contract, and part of the separation was part of that contract.”
Stegall served as manager of Elgin for seven years, before he was hired in Cary.
This is a breaking news story that will be updated.
This story was originally published February 12, 2026 at 5:08 PM with the headline "2016 police report: Former Cary town manager’s car spotted at suspected drug site."
