Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden’s second-in-command resigned earlier this month after only eight months on the job.
And on his way out, former Chief Deputy Kevin Canty sent a blistering letter, accusing McFadden of mismanagement, bullying and racism.
Canty has had a 32-year career in law enforcement, including more than 25 years with the State Bureau of Investigation.
A Mecklenburg County resident, he voted for McFadden as sheriff twice — when he was first elected in 2018 and then again four years later.
“As a Black law enforcement officer, I was proud and happy when he became the first Black sheriff of my home county,” Canty said in an interview with WFAE.
After Canty retired as the SBI’s special agent over the Charlotte field office last year he accepted a job as McFadden’s deputy. He thought negative reports in the media about the sheriff’s office were probably overblown.
But Canty said he was shocked at his first staff meeting in February.
“That was the first time I witnessed him speaking to command staff, using abusive language, insulting language, condescending language,” he said.
Canty called the meetings with staff "public floggings."
“So to the staff (he told) them he didn’t trust any of them,” Canty said. “He was insulting. (He said) he knew that there were moles in the agency reporting to the media, that some of them were behind the Facebook page to oust the sheriff.”
Canty was particularly upset at how McFadden talked to Black employees.
“I heard him make racist comments. He would refer to Black employees as being on a plantation and having a plantation mentality,” he said. “That was reserved for Black people who dared push back or have a different opinion or who presented evidence that contradicted themes that he was trying to get across.”
Canty said he confronted McFadden in June.
“I told him that I thought race was in play. And that I didn’t think that the majority of the employees who were Black would allow him to treat them the way he does if he had been a white sheriff.”
He added that he thought those employees “would have gone to the media a long time ago, would have filed grievances. And I also told him that I didn’t think he would treat the majority of these Black employees the way that he does if they were white.”
He said the sheriff was silent.
“He just looked at me and didn’t deny it,” he said. “He was just processing.”
McFadden is a former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department detective who starred in his own TV show last decade called “I Am Homicide.” On the show, he boasts about pushing the envelope to solve cases: “I tear the envelope.”
Jail deaths lead to scrutiny
Since being elected in 2018, he terminated the sheriff's office’s participation in the 287g program, which called for deputies to work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
He has received the most scrutiny for how he has run the main jail in uptown Charlotte, which is one of the sheriff’s primary responsibilities.
In McFadden’s nearly six-year time as sheriff, there have been 18 deaths at the detention center — more than the previous sheriffs had in a similar timeframe.
Other former sheriff’s employees have criticized McFadden, including a former major, Jeff Eason, who told WFAE two years ago that the problems at the jail were due to McFadden’s management.
Canty said he didn’t work directly with the jail. But he said McFadden’s leadership negatively impacted the entire office.
“It was obvious to me he had no leadership ability,” Canty said. “He had no knowledge of basic concepts of managing, of process.”
A spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said McFadden isn’t commenting on Canty’s allegations.
But in a speech last week, he addressed what he called the elephant in the room.
“The elephant wears green, that’s my color. That’s the uniform I have,” McFadden said. “But let me ensure this: If you believe I’m racist, you need to talk to me. If you believe I’m racist, you need to talk to the kids who come to see me. If you believe I’m racist, you need to talk to the people who know me.”
In previous interviews, McFadden has defended his tenure, saying he has changed the culture of the sheriff’s office for the better and made the jail more humane.
“We are talking about reentry, humanity, and giving people some of their rights,” McFadden said in 2022.
He has blamed problems with staff on holdovers from previous sheriffs, who are white.
After that June meeting, Canty says he wrote a resignation letter and changed the date each week. In early November, McFadden told him that he thought he should resign.
Canty then emailed his resignation letter to the sheriff’s office.
The letter said: “I’ve witnessed firsthand your denigrating and unprofessional comments to your command and executive staff. I’ve witnessed your blatant insecurities on full display as you accepted credit for all success and deflected all blame and attributed all problems to the staff.”
McFadden is up for reelection in two years.
