Activist raided in another McFadden success story of transformation! (10-17-2025--Hour2)

What's going on? Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpeteclendershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free right to your smartphone or tablet. And again, thank you so much for your support. So have you heard of a place in the Palisades in southwest Charlotte Palisades area referred to as thug Mansion? Thug Mansion, It is not referred to as that by the neighbors. Well, I guess they might have started. But this is what is depicted on the front lawn of this home, which apparently is valued at like over a million dollars or something. It appears like there were a bunch of sort of the larger landscaping rocks you know that you would put around border. In fact, they are bordering like the one tree that's in the middle of the front yard. So these white rocks, these large white rocks that are like making a tree ring. And then there are a bunch of them that are at the road in front of a large fence, like a privacy wooden fence. Fence looks to be about I don't know, ten to fifteen feet off of the road, and so you have this strip of well, I think it was grass at one point, but it just looked like dirt. From the aerial shot that I saw, I think it was over at WSOCTV. I don't know if they had a drone or a chopper or something overhead. But while the Federales were raiding this house, they were shooting video from up above, and somebody had taken these landscaping rocks, which I would assume were probably like bordering I don't know, like the grass strip area along the road or something. But they reorganized the rocks to spell out thug mansion. And then on the other side near the driveway, it seemed like they had written black lives. But I guess they ran out of rocks because there wasn't matter at the bottom of that. It just had black lives that I could see. I don't know, maybe they did have matter, like maybe on the other side of the driveway or something. I'm not sure, but that's what that's the aerial shot that I saw, and the home belongs to a Charlotte community activist named Cedric Dean. Cedric Dean. Does that name ring a bell? It rang a bell for me, but I couldn't I couldn't place it at first. I didn't remember. Where do I know this name from? Cedric Dean? Cedric Dean? Where do I know this name from? It'll come to me. Federal investigators accused Charlotte community activist Cedric Dean of exploiting homeless people to defraud Medicaid out of millions of dollars. Dean used the money to buy homes, cars, and fund his lifestyle, according to the federal government, and now they are moving to seize the assets. By the way, a quick search of Cedric Dean turned up he is also so the author of a book called How to Stop Your Children From Going to Prison? Not really sure what advice he offers, but yeah, there's that. Dean has been well documented through the years and founded Sons Against Violence Everywhere or Save Save Sons Against Violence Everywhere. He's also a self proclaimed homeless advocate and helped youth stay away from violence. Cedric Dean, where do I know that name from Wait a minute, is that the guy that got arrested for for a breaking and entering and a kidnapping charge? Yeah, in May misdemeanor breaking and entering. He has also charged with previous violent and property crimes, including assault with a deadly weapon and kidnapping. He oh also spent more than twenty eight years in prison for two separate convictions. At age sixteen, he was convicted of robbery spent five years in state prison. Later, he was convicted of selling crack cocaine and spent time in federal prison before being released in twenty seventeen. It was within a year after that, after his release that I see he ended up standing with the likes of Mark Darrell County Commissioner. I believe he's the chairman now of the county commission, is he not? Mark Durell won an award of some kind he's standing there with. Oh, wait a minute, there's a photo of him here with Nancy Pelosi as well. Well, look at that. Oh and here's a photo of him with Tiawanna Brown, the illustrious indicted Charlotte City councilwoman, also a formerly incarcerated person or a FIP as I call them based on the acronym FIP. Here he is with Tijuana Brown. Oh. Here he is with Tijuana Brown as well, and they're being honored. Oh. This was from twenty eighteen, so like a year after he was released from the federal pen. Here's Mecklenberg County Sheriff Gary not My fault McFadden in a post on social media, Gary L. McFadden transforming the life of Tijuana Brown and Cedric Dean a testimony of true servant leadership, the difference to make the difference hashtag to God be the Glory, hashtag sheriff elect. So Gary not My fault McFadden was celebrating these two individuals, Tijuana Brown and Cedric Dean, as examples of the transformation that he has helped them achieve, that he being the hero or the victim, but obviously never the villain, that he was able to make this difference in their lives. But then merely what four years later or five years later, not even actually in Tijuana Brown's case, she got indicted for lying on the federal PPP loans, right, she got indicted for taking the money and using the money to pay for that birthday party. Her fiftieth birthday party where she had like a horse drawn carriage and she had a gown and she had what else did a throne? Remember they had the big throne built for her big birthday bash and all of that, and that was with federal PPP money. But she paid it. Remember that was her defense was that she paid it back as soon as the Feds came sniffing around saying, hey, what did you do with all of this money. You don't have a business, you don't have employees, Like, how are you getting all this money? You and your two daughters all indicted? Then, and she's like, oh, but I paid it back, So like that proves I'm innocent because I paid it back. And then I remembered when when Tijuana Brown held her press conference at that lawyer's office where she made this defense, and people were just like, what the heck is she doing? Why would the lawyer allow her to do this? And then I was thinking, like, the lawyer can't stop his client from doing a press conference. The lawyer, I would I would wager the lawyer said don't do this, but she insisted. That's my bet on how that would on how that went out? If I had to bet, and I'm not really a gambling and only if the lottery gets above a billion dollars then it's worth it to me. But that, to me, is probably how that went down. But at that press conference, there was a guy sitting next to her, completely underdressed for the occasion. He's wearing a T shirt, he's got a ball cap on. I think he was wearing sunglasses. He did not have the like seventeen pounds of gold chains around his neck which he features in some of his Facebook posts. I have noticed as all public servants and community activists obviously purchase and then adorn themselves with. So he wasn't all blinged out like that, if I recall correctly, at the at the press conference. But he was the guy sitting next to Tijuana Brown defending her and accusing the federal government of being racist, right, that was him. Now he's under investigation for the same sort of financial fraud that she was. And these are the two success stories that Sheriff not my fault McFadden has been highlighting since twenty eighteen. Yeah, here's another picture of Dean and Brown with McFadden where he has been presented with some award by Dean's organization, the Civil Service Award, which I'm sure is on McFadden's wall with all of the other awards and certifications and you know, little documents of appreciation that he that he you know, puts all over his walls. While telling interviewers that he doesn't point to all of the recognitions, he doesn't, he doesn't do that. I meanwhile, he's got a wall full of trophies, but he's not about the trophies. Yeah, yeah, this is true. This is from a story that was published back in August at the Charlotte Optimist, which is just bizarre, bizarre behavior from our sheriff. I will get to that. So when I was a kid, my grandpa died with Alzheimer's, and before he died, my mom and my dad took care of him as he got worse. Forty years ago, there were no treatments and not much support for caregivers and family. But things are different today because of the work of so many people, including the Alzheimer's Association of Western Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. I've been a supporter for twenty five years. This cause means a lot to me, I participate in the annual Walk to end Alzheimer's and I'm leading a Charlotte team again this year and it's called once again Pete's Pack. You can sign up and you can join the team and walk with us. It's on October eighteenth, that truest field. Sign up at alz dot org slash Walk and then you could search for my team name Pete's Peck. There's also a link at thepetepod dot com. There's also a link in the description of this podcast. Also, I'll be am seeing the Gastonia Walk on October eleventh, and so you can make a team and join that one too, or make a donation and help me hit my goal of five thousand dollars. If you do, I really appreciate it. There are a bunch of other walks all over the Carolinas. You can go to alz dot org slash walk for all the dates and locations. We're closer than ever to stopping Alzheimer's. Can you help us get there? Will you walk with me? For a different future, for families, for more time for treatments. This is why we walk. Let me go over to the text line here, do do do a seven oh four number says hang On, h the rocks in the frontyard have been there for weeks and were placed there by the homeowner, not during yesterday's raid by the Feds. Yeah, I didn't mean to indicate or insinuate that the Feds did that. That was the homeowners that put the rocks out there, that said thug mansion and black lives matter. So but thank you. That is from I think it's Kirk or Kurt, Kurt or Kirk, I don't know. Let me say here then we had I know it's going to be a great segment when you mentioned Gary, not my fault, McFadden. That's from a seven oh four number. Another seven o four number says, by the way, you can give us just your name and then I can identify your name when I read these texts hang On. I could be wrong, but I think the Tiajuana Brown got charged for something else recently with her daughter. Yes, as I mentioned, she was indicted for lying on the PPP applications and then using the money not for her business but for her birthday party. She's under federal indictment along with her two adult daughters because they did the same thing. It was a family affair, and oh, Kirk says, no, that's not him. This is Kirk and Belmont. Okay, so we apparently have a bumper crop of Kurt or Kirk's in the audience. Okay, all right, everything's bouncing around on the text line. I cannot keep track of it, so I will go ahead and move on to the details. Here from WSOCTV about Cedric Dean has bought single family homes to turn into group homes, and he ran a program at a hotel where he said he tried to provide food, shelter, and treatment to people in need, but he is accused of taking advantage of the system and people. Dean allegedly, according to the court documents, obtained Medicaid information from people at homeless shelters and turned it into money for himself. Fed say they spoke to eight witnesses who either worked or lived in one of Dean's properties. They told investigators that he and his workers would get Medicaid information from people living on the street or in homeless encampments. Dean then used that information to submit claims for services that were never provided. In one case, they said, he claimed to have provided fifty four services to somebody who was dead. That seems like an open shotcase. I don't know. Cedric Dean Holdings build the Medicaid program at least fourteen and a half million dollars. From September of twenty four through June of twenty five, they build fourteen and a half million and received almost nine million. Some of the money was routed to accounts that were then used to pay for cars and houses. There's the house on young Blood Road that was raided. There's a house in the Highland Creek area on McChesney Drive. Two more homes in Shelby are also listed as his properties. FEDS are trying to seize them now, along with five vehicles and all the cash and the bank accounts where the Medicaid money was being held. Feds are also pointing out Dean's income. He earned a total of one hundred sixty seven thousand dollars a total of one sixty seven from twenty eighteen through twenty twenty four, so for six years after he got out of federal prison, one hundred and sixty seven grand he made, but his income then jumped to ten thousand dollars a week last fall and winter. He has not been criminally charged at this point. You know. Stories are powerful. 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They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video dot org. So Michael Graff sat down for a very lengthy interview with Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary Not my fault, McFadden. This actually occurred back in August. I have had this story in my stack of stuff, just waiting for this moment. No, actually, I just haven't been able to get to it. It's been very busy, so it's a very lengthy story. Highly recommend you read it. It's at the Charlotte Optimist website Charlotteoptimist dot com. The headline is the Unfiltered Sheriff Gary McFadden has a lot to say. I'm going to give you some of the highlights here. Okay, He's become one of North Carolina's most controversial public officials. In August, a chief deputy resigned issued a scorching letter that accused McFadden of backstabbing, lies, disrespect, and false narratives, and said his time in the office was the worst year of his career. That letter came nine months after the previous chief deputy resigned the same way with similar words, accusing McFadden of creating a quote third world dictatorship. And on top of all of that, in November twenty twenty four, Mecklenburg's first black sheriff issued a public apology after WBTV unearthed a recording of him using racial slurs. Still, McFadden tells me he's considering a run for reelection next year. His family patriarch style of leadership. I thought we were down with the patriot Oh no, not that we're down with it, but we have to take down the patriarchy. This family patriarch style of leadership would make a corporate hr rep shutter. Still, most employees we encounter at the jail shower him with affection. He's like my uncle. A detention officer says. So. Yes, some people really like him and some people really don't. But in his view, another person's opinion of him says more about the person than him. He's just Gary McFadden quote. I don't have any issues. People have issues. I don't have any. Gosh, he's such a martyr. He is so much better than every one of us. We started with a wavy three hour a wavy what does that mean? Scatterbrained? He is all over the place, and anybody who has sat and watched him deliver a speech or do an interview knows exactly what this is. It's called flight of ideas. It's just this bing bing bing bing, bung bung pu, just bouncing all around, all these different thoughts not connected to each other. He has a theatrical or sorry he was theatrical in one moment and sincere the next, Friendly then furious, complimentary towards supporters, then scathing towards detractors. At one point he said, quote, I put no awards on my wall, and then pointed to awards on his wall. This is just is remarkable writing by uh, is it? Michael? Yeah, Michael Graff just really, I mean fantastic writing and just absurd, just absolutely absurd, Like I don't I don't put no awards on my wall. Look, and there are awards all over the wall. So he's delusional. Does he not see the awards? He just thinks if he says there were no awards on the wall full of awards, that you won't see all the awards on his non award wall, Like what do you? Also the bouncing back and forth, complimentary then scathing, friendly, then furious, screams bipolar. He ripped the media for not covering positive stories like a child friendly visitation room, a business school that helped a former inmate launch a coffee truck, the first voluntary psych unit in North Carolina, a restoration program that reduces the caseload for psych hospitals, a recording studio to help mental health, and internal data sharing showing a lower recidivism rate. And what's hilarious is that on every one of those stories there are links. There are hyperlinks embedded in this piece at the Charlotte Optimist about every one of those stories that got covered. So he's ripping the media for not covering the positive stories. And every example he gives literally was covered by the media. I even I have covered the recording studio story. I mean, maybe it wasn't in the way he wanted it covered, Particularly when you trot out for the media a guy accused of murder and don't tell the victim's family that they're going to see their son's murderer on some puff piece on the evening news, and then you have to apologize for that pr faux pas. Yeah, for the insensitive nature of your pr effort. But every one of those stories got covered, But he says they're not covered. They don't cover the positive stories, Like all these stories that I told them to cover and then they did. He said, it's negative, negative, negative, And he says that all of this coverage, this negative coverage, it wears on no, no, no, not him, It wears on his staff. See, because he's the hero. He's the hero. He is just worried about how the negative coverage of him weighs on his staff. Oh gosh, I know, it's got to be frustrating. When I asked him about the accusations of his dictatorship or the toxic work environment, he flipped it around on me. Quote are you a good husband? Are you a good father? That's classic Darvo, by the way, classic reverse victim offender kind of a deal. Are you a good reporter? What would people say? And who would we believe about? Midway through the conversation, as he criticized the press, I turned it over to him and I asked him to be the reporter you solved six hundred cases. I said, where would you start your interview with Gary McFadden? What would you ask him? Here's what mc fadden said, Quote tell me about first grade, he snapped, tell me about fourth grade. Soon he was in a full performance, asking and answering his own questions, turning his head toward a wall as if he were picturing his critics. I did not interrupt him. According to the sorry to the time stamps on the audio transcript, Gary McFadden's interview with Gary McFadden lasted thirty four minutes. This is insane, Like, this is clinical insanity. You've conducted an interview with yourself for over half an hour. It's unbelievable. Don't tell me. Nobody knows what's going on with this guy. People in a position to actually do something about this. I want to believe that they are trying to convince him not to run for reelection. Let's said over, here's a great idea. How about making an escape to a really special and secluded getaway in western North Carolina. Just a quick drive up the mountain and Cabins of Asheville is your connection. 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Call or text eight two eight three six seven seventy sixty eight or check out all there is to offer at Cabins Offashville dot com and make memories that'll last a lifetime. Just an absolutely remarkable story by Michael Graff at the Charlotte Optimist Charlotte Optimist dot com. The interview was conducted it was arranged prior to the murder of Arena Zarutzka on the light rail line, but it occurred after the murder and when he brings up the case to sheriff, not my fault McFadden in the context of his mental health and rehabilitation efforts that he's touting, right, I asked him, how we help people who make the most of second chances while protecting the community from the truly dangerous. How do we solve for both things? I asked? He took the question off the page. Quote, the majority of his time is spent in his community. So we take that the time that de Carlos Brown Junior spent with us versus the time that he's with the community. So who failed him? I didn't fail him. The community failed him, which you know, Michael Graf the reporter, did not suggest that McFadden had failed anybody. But that's what McFadden. It's not his fault, everybody. That's not his fault. Nobody said it was your fault. Gary. A Charlotte Observer investigation earlier this year found at least seven former employees who said McFadden was an abusive and dysfunctional boss. One retired employee told the paper that McFadden is quote the biggest narcissist hashtag true and a fire detention sent A fired detention center employee said, quote, he thinks he's godlike hashtag true. Former Chief Deputy Kevin Canty told WCNC last year that quote, it's the most toxic environment I've ever worked in. McFadden said he can't legally respond to the individual letters that were written. McFadden admits that the closer a stafford gets to him on the organizational chart, the more pressure he puts onto them. The resignation letters indicate that those closest to him, With those people, he's crossed a line or multiple lines. Even if he disagrees quote why is it so hard to work for the sheriff? He said, I just want to know. I have to have this knowledge. I have to understand. You've been told repeatedly why it's so difficult to work for you, But for some reason you either don't believe them or you don't want to believe them. But you have been told this idea that, oh, I don't know, why do people have such a hard time working for me? They literally wrote you the reasons in the letters, They gave examples. They even produced an audio tape like there, Yeah, it has been communicated to you. His office is full of symbols. There's a leather bound notebook where he wrote the opening page of a memoir that he intends to finish after he's done being sheriff. It's dated December third, twenty eighteen, the day he was sworn in. This is what he wrote, Gary McFadden, first African American sheriff of Mecklimberg County. I am thankful for my life, my health, my family. God has given me a mission. Hate will come to me in different color. I'm ready. He was part of a wave of firsts. Vy Lyles became the first black woman mayor. Spencer Meriweather became the first black district attorney same year mcfannon was elected. McFadden is unquestionably not like his peers, including cmpde Chief Johnny Jennings. They're all even tempered, diligent, and averse to creating dust clouds. They're the sort of folks who'll probably curl up with a book in retirement rather than write one about themselves, as narcissists do. When I simply suggested to McFadden that he stands apart, he started swatting maybe at me, maybe at them, maybe at the ghosts of the people who enslaved his ancestors, maybe all of the above. He said, quote, we want to still mold him, to Vi, to Jennings, to Spenser and all them. I'm not them. It's all expected to be. If they're quiet and they're quiet, you're supposed to be quiet too. How dare you You're supposed to be quiet too. You don't know your place. He looked at me, a white guy, and said, see, you don't get this. When black children speak, well, you know what they say. Oh he speaks so well. He dressed so nice. See, we don't want to go there. He dressed so nice, he's so well mattern. We like them because they're not outspoken, they're nice. And he was code switching this whole time. And then he unleashed Find any one of them with more awards than I have, Find any one of them who's more connected to the community than I have. Take a vote, walk five of us in the community and see who the people gravitate to find that out the people. Shriff, All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, So if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetecleanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.