Charlotte's controversial sheriff draws a high-profile challenger (07-16-2025--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 dpetecleanershow 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. Some may say that I give Mecklenburg County Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden a bit of a hard time. No, it's true. Some people say that, and it's true, it is absolutely true. But he deserves it. Okay. That's why I'm hard on him, is because he deserves it. And I have documented over the years why he deserves it, all of the various issues that he has been involved in and has created, which is why I was super excited to see that there is a candidate running against him. His campaign has been launched in the Democrat primary. His name is Ricky Robbins. I believe race car driver retired race car driver from Talladega Knights. Ricky. Oh no, sorry, this is a longtime sheriff Mecklenburg Police sergeant Ricky Robbins. Ricky Robbins, what's the name? Sorry, No, I'm very like I don't know who else is in I'm going to get to this story here. But the Charlotte Observer had the rite up the other day. The primary is on March third, and as you know, we were talking with Andrew Dunn yesterday from long Leaf Politics. You know, people may think that's a long time away, but if you are running a campaign, it like you're like filing is underway right now for the upcoming November election. For these are the local races, but the primary is for the twenty twenty six races is in March, and so people have to be lining up their campaign staff, their you know, endorsements and stuff. They got to be fundraising. They're already out there doing the work for twenty twenty six. The municipal races they're up this year, so the candidate filing is open for the twenty twenty five city races. So Ricky Robbins hosted a kickoff event for his campaign at the Mint Museum Randolph. He put out a press release and in the press release he said that he is endorsed by he's being backed by retired CMPD chief Rodney Monroe, which doesn't like, I don't. That does not persuade me, just because I was a reporter here at the time when Romo was the Rodney rod Moo Romo anyway, when he was the chief, and I don't remember him being at least in my estimation, not terribly impressive as a police chief. But I don't know. I don't know if he got a three hundred thousand dollars payoff. I don't know if he got one of those two, but I don't believe so. So that's one of the endorsements that he picked up. But here here are a couple endorsements that I actually think will matter more. Carolina Panther Cuba Hubbard endorsing him along with another Carolina Panther, Derek Brown, along with another former Carolina Panther, Luke Keikley. The fact that he knows three Carolina Panthers, Like, automatically, I'm intrigued, like, how do you know these three guys? Maybe he did security for the Panthers and he got to meet the players and stuff. I remember, so little sidebar here let's take a quick side trip. I used to work for the Charlotte Hornets for a season. This would have been the nineteen ninety nine two thousand season, and I was I did the pregame segments for like scores from around the league and news from around the league. It was basically an opportunity for Bob Licked, the play by play guy, and Jerry v the color guy, to go and get interviews in the locker room from the coaches and the players and give them a break, go get some you know, hot tea with honey. That's what Bob always like anyway. So I would do just these segments in the pregame, the postgame, and the halftime segments of the broadcast. And I did that for one season. At the time, I was part time in the WBT newsroom, So I did this as a side hustle, and I went by a different name. But everybody who listened to bt knew who I was. They told me I had to have the Hornets, didn't The old program director told me, like, you need to have a different name, Like why do I need to have a different name, Like so this way people won't won't hear the same name it'll be confusing to the listener if they hear you doing WBT news stuff and then doing Charlotte Hornet stuff. I'm like, but they're going to recognize my voice. And what I realized years later, not being wise to the ways of radio management at the time, I learned years later that he wasn't worried about WBT listeners being confused. He was worried that people in the network, the affiliates around the Carolinas that were broadcasting the games, that they may know who I was and maybe try to poach me, and so he didn't want that to happen, so which I guess is flattering now that I think about it, but at any rate, because so every home game I sat court side, which is also that also led to my disaffiliation and disaffection with the NBA, by the way, after watching every single home game court side being an NBA fan for you know, my childhood, and then seeing the game up close and seeing the way the officiating was done, and then the next season seeing the playoffs and the egregiousness of the calls and stuff, and I was like, I'm done, Like this is completely arbitrary. I feel like it's rigged and anyway, so I quit following it. And but while I was their court side, I recognized there was always this one CMPD officer. He ran security in uniform for every Hornets game, every home game. I don't know his name. He was always on like the other side, so I never I never met him. So maybe that's what Sergeant Ricky Robbins used to do. Maybe he did that with the Panthers. But the fact that he's got three Carolina Panthers to endorse him to the point where they let him obviously put their names in a press release supporting him. First off, they've got to have I gotta think they have a personal relationship with him. They probably are not following I mean, I don't know why I would. Maybe they are following the you know, the local sheriff's race. Maybe they do know about all of the problems at the jail. Maybe they do know all of the problems in Gary not my fault, McFadden's administration. Maybe they do know all of this. I suspect though, that these endorsements are simply personal relationships, right, But that's big for local races. You get three Carolina Panthers, and if they have a decent season. I mean, like that's gonna be like, if they have a good season, this could be game changer, you know. So he okay, So Robbins is one of at least two candidates who want to unsee McFadden. You have another guy named an Twain or Antoine Nance, a former detention officer, also running, So that's not great. I think you should probably clear the field if you guys really want McFadden out. I think Democrats need to clear the field for a candidate to make it easier for that candidate to beat McFadden, because when you start splintering the anti McFadden votes, then McFadden has an easier time getting into the general election getting through the primary. And if he gets through the primary again, chances are voters are going to put him back into office because we are a Democrat controlled county and Democrats are not going to look past the D in his name or the other D. Right. Well, he's got two d's in his last name, so they're not going to look past his party affiliation. They're going to vote for the Democrat. In the press release, Robin's campaign said he's running in part to establish an ethical workplace culture sorely needed. Meanwhile, antoine Nance's campaign website says he wants to restore public trust in the sheriff's office, which if they can hammer those messages against McFadden, I think that's going to that'll do some damage. You get these two guys hammer in a way, and my hope would be that if one of them in the polling realizes that they can't win, they should drop out, throw their support behind the other challenger and consolidate that anti McFadden sentiment. All right, if you're listening to this show, you know I try to keep up with all sorts of current events, and I know you do too, And you've probably heard me say get your news from multiple sources. Why well, because it's how you detect media bias, which is why I've been so impressed with ground News. It's an app and it's a websit site, and it combines news from around the world in one place so you can compare coverage and verify information. You can check it out at check dot ground dot news slash pete. I put the link in the podcast description too. I started using ground News a few months ago, and more recently chose to work with them as an affiliate because it lets me see clearly how stories get covered and by whom. The blind spot feature shows you which stories get ignored by the left and the right. See for yourself. Check dot Ground dot News slash Pete. Subscribe through that link and you'll get fifteen percent off any subscription. I use the Vantage plan to get unlimited access to every feature. Your subscription then not only helps my podcast, but it also supports Ground News as they make the media landscape more transparent. Jerry, Welcome to the program. Hey Jerry, Hey, thanks Pete. Sir. I'm a retire police officer. Ricky Robbins has been in charge of head Coach Security AH since the beginning of the Anthers. Since the beginning, Yes, sir, wow, I'm the very first coach. Up until today, Ricky Robbins has been attached to the Carolina Panthers for head coach Security. He's also a SWAT officer, very good trainer and a very good man. So you endorse him. Most definitely. I would endorse Sergeant Ricky Robins. So and you worked did you ever, like work with him on the force? Yes, yeah, well yeah, we kind of worked together, not directly, but I worked for the Sheriff's office. He was our trainer when we put together our SWAT team. We got to know Ricky very well. But yeah, he is a very confident man, and he's been attached to the panthersince stay one. I knew it. I knew those Panther players weren't following the Sheriff's race that closely. I knew it had to be a personal. Yeah, you're right, Pete. He's a good man. He's a very good man. All right. Well, hey, Jerry, I appreciate that. Thank you, Yes, sir, all right, take care and thank you for your service as well. We appreciate it, Jerry. I did get Let me see a couple of texts on the Liberty buiou GMC text line. Here. Kirk wants to know what name I used when I was with the Hornets. So there's a question I could open up for like a like a contest. No, I'll just tell you, yes, it was. Well, he just sent me a follow up saying I believe it was Peter O'Donnell. Yes, indeed, it was Peter O'Donnell. I was very yeah, nobody could nobody knew it was me. It's because here I'm Pete Callaner, but on the Hornets broadcast, I was Peter O'Donnell. See nobody knew. This is from Sean who says, you were thinking about Ricky Bobby and he's too busy, shaken and bacon to be any part of sheriff. And that's Sean did get the joke. Ad job. Here's another. This is from a seven oh four number. He worked security for the Panthers for years. He was always behind the bench with the coaches. Yeah, and so like that's why I said, like he had to have been assigned to the detail. I did not know this, uh what Jerry just said about assigned to the coaching, to the head coaches or whatever. But that explains why he would have these Panthers, uh giving their endorsements. And I think, like in a local race, I don't think they're going to go out and do campaign stops for him. Maybe they will, I don't know, but like that's that's a high profile kind of a deal. That's you know, you get the endorsement of you know, some local elected official or something. And Okay, I don't know anybody that relies on like the editorial board of the Charlotte Observer to direct their votes. I mean, if anything, I look at who they endorse and I vote the opposite way. But I don't rely on endorsements. I don't think they move the needle very much, unless, like, for example, you've got a guy like Elon Musk coming in to say to his two hundred million followers on Twitter, you know, vote for Donald Trump. People who follow Elon Musk and don't follow politics, they now may do so because the guy that they like is telling them this is who you should vote for. I endorse this guy. And that's the same dynamic I think I play with the with these panthers, Will they take that kind of an active role, I don't know. Maybe they just lend their name to the endorsement list, maybe make a donation of you know, hundred bucks, five hundred bucks, thousand dollars whatever for the campaign, and that's the extent of it. We'll see, But like that would be I think that would be a very goo good, a very good thing for the candidacy. And as far as the other guy goes, this former detention officer, which if I recall correctly, last time, there was another detention officer who ran and split the anti McFadden vote with what was her name, Gina Hicks, one of the first people that McFadden fired who ran the jail. She ran the jail, But McFadden fired a whole bunch of the people that he perceived to be part of the good old boy network. Gena Hicks being a black woman, of course she's part of the good old boy network, right, and so he fired her, and then of course she started seeing all of these people dying at the jail. She would have been a far superior sheriff than what we have now. But all right, so that's Ricky Robbins. Meanwhile, Charlotte Mecklenberg FOP, the Fraternal Order of Police, uh they The president of the FOP, Daniel Redford, made some statements in the wake of the latest shooting. I've seen it described as a mass shooting, which I saw. Then CMPD is pushing back on this term. Was it a mass shooting because one man was killed and like five others injured. I think it was five. There may be six total that were you know, shot at on the streets of uptown Charlotte the other night. And CMPD is like, that's not really a mass shooting, and there's discrepancy in the definitions, and what do you classify as a mass shooting and blah blah blah blah blah. It's like to me, that's that's not the point here, right, The point is that you had you had a shooting occur left one innocent guy, seemingly innocent bystander, left him dead, and a bunch of others injured, and we're still looking for the shooter. Apparently, 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 Ashville is your connection. Whether you're celebrating an anniversary, a honeymoon, maybe you want to plan a memorable proposal, or get family and friends together for a big old reunion, Cabins of Ashville has the ideal spot for you where you can reconnect with your loved ones and the things that truly matter. 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That's for a Charlotte City Council seat filed for reelection. My pal CaCO day up in Raleigh. Uh just tagged me in the tweet and he said, I love this for you. Pete. I am blessed. I am blessed beyond measure. Cohen says, Pete, I fully concur with your assessment of not my fault, McFadden. I hope Pam Bondi finds out what he's doing and files a lawsuit. Uh yeah, same same here, and uh I tagged Tom Holman and Ice and DHS on various press releases that McFadden has put out. I mean you do have to scroll past like his big head that takes up like most of the press release when he sends them out. But I tag them, and you know, hopefully he's on their radar. But I don't know. So two men are now facing charges in connection with a mass shooting in Uptown early Sunday morning. Damian Evans Junior and Sean Cannon are in jail facing weapons charges for the shooting that left one dead and several others injured. According to court documents, Evans and Cannon fled with a suspected shooter, later leading police on a chase after refusing to pull over during an attempted traffic stop. This is according to Queen City News QC news dot Com by Andy Weber. Police did not identify the shooter. This was from yesterday. Maybe they've already picked up the shooter. Maybe they know who it is. I don't know, but they haven't identified them. Also a little unclear as to what happened during the traffic stop and why they didn't get the shooter at that point but or after a chase. But I have another story that gives some details on that. In fact, uh, I'll come back to the FOP president's comments. So we had Cannon, one of the suspects here, denied bond, charged with denied bond. Wait a minute, four felonies, possession of firearm by a felon, possession of a stolen firearm, flee eluding arrest, and accessory after the fact, and he got denied bond in Mecklenburg County. I thought we just left just let felons with stolen firearms, We just let them walk. Maybe give him an ankle bracelet or something. I didn't realize we were actually keeping people incarcerated. So what I mean, look, hey, that's an improvement, right, Let's let's take the victory here, let's take the win. You got a felon with a stolen gun, fleeing arrest, and accessory after the fact to a homicide. Yeah, that's a good deal. That he's still in jail. He seems like he might be a threat to the community. You know, that's a reason to detain him. Evans was issued with I don't know what that's I don't know what that means. Was issued with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a stolen firearm. Now I don't know if it's the same firearm. Maybe they just both got the charge and there was one gun in the car, or maybe they both had stolen firearms in their possession. Either way, and they don't say what happened, if if Evans was denied bond or not, I don't know. Maybe he was too so. An off duty officer was working at an area nightclub when the shooting happened. According to an affidavit, the off duty officer saw Evans holding a gun with an extended magazine, but was able to take it from Evans. Good on the cop, Good job, off duty officer. There. A total of six people were shot, including Arley Brian Junior, who died from his wounds at the site of the shooting, which was outside of the Encore nightclub. The nightclub has confirmed that Arley Brian Junior was an employee who was working when he was killed. I saw a report that he was a bartender there, and he may have been standing outside on a smoke break when police arrived. A security guard flagged one of the officers and pointed out a silver BMW and said the alleged shooter had gotten into that car and was leaving. An officer caught up to the car as it was in traffic. The front seat passenger was identified as Evans. Allegedly, the driver rolled up the window and left. So so you stopped the car with an alleged mass shooter in the car, and apparently in order to evade the arrest. I did not know this, but you simply roll up the window and drive away. I was unaware that that was the cheat code. Charlotte Meckleberg Police's Real Time Crime Center then tracked the WB sorry the WBT. BMW tracked the car using the street cameras the traffic cams. Another officer catches up to the car, a chase started when the BMW refused to stop, and then it doesn't say what happened after that, except that the car was found a couple of minutes later, having been abandoned. So did this guy implement evasive measures? And he ditched the cops for a couple of minutes or was he driving too fast? And then the cops per their policy they can't like, they don't chase, and so he was able to get away ditch the car. He's found a couple minutes later, taken by police. Stolen gun found in the vehicle. A total of seven guns were taken from areas related to the investigation. 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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 Com message from Dennis, who says, I think it's very fitting you discussing sheriff not my fault MCI on National Hot Dog Day. However, you may want to look under your car before heading home. I always do, Dennis, when I don't have one of the producers started for me. So. The president of the Charlotte Meckelberg Fraternal Order of Police, Daniel Redford, in a quote to qcnews dot Com, he said, it is frustrating when you know officers get injured or they get cut, they get hurt, and they're having a fight with these people and the next thing you know, they find out six months later the charges have been dropped or the person's been out of jail. Redford said the only solution to deter and reduce the violence in Charlotte is to make changes within the city council. He is correct, he made a direct appeal to voters. Quote. I think that it's time that we have a fresh reset, that we get city council members in there who will actually speak out when criminals victimize our citizens instead of only coming out and commenting when it's an officer that does something wrong. Yeah, I mean it starts at the top. It really does. The police. Any police chief is going to do what the Charlotte City Council wants him to do. He's going to take his direction from the politicians at the top. Let me see here. Oh, I got one more item related. The DA's office put out a press release. Man pleads guilty in vehicular death of Charlotte woman. This was a press release from yesterday, so I guess the day before. So on Monday yesterday, after being called for trial for the twenty twenty vehicular death of fifty four year old Rosslyn Michelle Torrance, fifty four year old woman killed in a twenty twenty car crash by Christian Barboza. Christian Barbosa pled guilty to all charges. The Mecklmburg County Die's Office Homicide Team prosecuted the case. The proceedings were held in Quarterroom fifty three seventy before the Honorable George C. Bell, Superior Court judge. When he was called for trial Barboza twenty four now twenty four, because this is four or five years later he finally went to trial. It took four years to go to trial and he pleaded guilty as charged with no concessions from the state. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter felony death by vehicle, two charges. In his discretion, Judge Bell sentenced Barboza to fifty one to seventy four months in prison, which is about what five years or so roughly in that range. That sentence was suspended pending his successful completion of thirty six months of supervised probation. As a condition of the probation, Barbosa must serve a split sentence of one hundred eighty days in jail. So this guy back on March twenty fifth, twenty twenty, just before nine pm, he rams his car. He runs a stoplight or a red light. He runs through the red light, plows into the victim, Rosalind Torrents sends her car into the side of an overpass like a big barrier pins here in there for half an hour. He was doing sixty seven in a thirty five mile an hour zone. Running the red light at the intersection of North Trion Street and University City Boulevard. He broadsides Torrens his car, forcing her car into the wall of the overpass, and because of the location and the extensive damage to her car, it took Charlotte Fire Department half an hour to extricate her from the vehicle. During that time, Barbosa tried to leave the scene. He fought the deputies who were attempting to detain him because there were two deputies that were right there and saw the whole thing. Once they restrain him, the defendant was transported to the hospital, where he admitted to both medic personnel in the presence of officers as well as the hospital staff, that he had consumed THHC metabolites or sorry he had consumed marijuana and acid LSD, but he says he did it the night before. That does not drop an acid doesn't make you go sixty seven miles an hour in a thirty five zone. A night later, she suffered severe injuries from the crash. She was in the hospital and eventually died. It took like four men. She was in the hospital, just awful, and this judge gave him a suspended sentence three years probation. You get the government you deserve people, and you know, until people decide they've had enough of this crap by voting out these judges, Like I don't know what else to tell you, 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 thepetecallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.