Sheriff Garry "Not My Fault" McFadden feels betrayed (09-17-2025--Hour3)

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 dpetclendershow 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 our Mecklenberg County Sheriff Gary not my fault McFadden. He is at it again and he wants everybody to know none of this stuff is his fault, which is very on brand for not my fault McFadden. So several developments over the last week that I've had, but I just keep kind of pushing off because of the obvious developments in the news cycle. Let me start with this. I got screenshots the other day of an announcement that McFadden sent out to all Mecklenberg County Sheriff's Office employees and it says, today I wanted to give you an advanced notice of a possible news story that will be published by the Charlotte Observer within a couple of days, the Charlotte Observer will publish a story that will possibly contain comments and criticism from former Chief of Detention T. White. Our PIO staff and I were notified of this several days ago, and on Wednesday morning, I was interviewed by The Charlotte Observer regarding the comments that were presented to me, possibly made by Chief of Detention T. White. I am only giving you this notice because we all have been subject to these Mecklinberg County Sheriff's all employee emails and news stories that sometimes shock us all. So I will wait to see the entire interview published. But from what was provided to me by the Charlotte Observer, it was extremely disappointing and hard to believe for many obvious reasons. So I will wait. He's always the victim or the hero, remember Gary, not my fault. Macfadden, always the hero or the victim, never the villain. So he's going to wait for the article to be published before I make any further comments to you as our staff. Personally, I am fine and will continue to be fine and fearless and faithful to this agency. Hero. So remember when storms come, they bring rain that rain will water the seeds that have been planted deeply into the soils of Meckleiberg County Sheriff's Office by you as our staff. But if there's an old sorry, but there is an old African proverb to remember quote if there is no enemy within, the enemy outside can do no harm, which I'm not actually sure that's true. I mean, I know it's a proverb in all but I if there is no enemy within the outside could do no harm. I'm not like, if your village is surrounded by a million troops and they lay siege to your village. You may have no enemies inside that village, but the enemy outside can definitely do you some harm. So I'm not really sure that that proverb anyway. Have a safe and amazing day, that's what he says. I've seen no article by the Charlotte Observer quoting one T. White, but he obviously has no problem talking about personnel matters in an all staff email when he wants to alert everybody that there's going to be yet another news article or is I guess he would probably call it a hit piece directed at him. But again, I haven't seen any reporting. I've been waiting for it. I haven't seen a report on any accusations from t White. Now there is a story about his former business director, Angelia Rigsby, who, if I recall correctly, spoke with Vince Cokeley several months ago and talked about how she was fired, And now she has filed a lawsuit against Gary. Not my fault McFadden. A federal lawsuit filed on Friday, says he created a toxic culture of retaliation and racism within the sheriff's department. She worked at the sheriff's office for just eight months before McFadden terminated her last November. We reported on that at the time as well. For almost a year, the sheriff has been hounded by criticism from former employees. Two chief deputies who quit and his recently retired chief of detention have accused him of classlessness, bullying, and narcissism. Yeah, check and check. McFadden responded to those claims in recent interviews with The Observer. He said that all three were playing the victim. He has not said whether he is running for reelection. By the way, I suspect that this might be the article that McFadden was worried about because it doesn't I don't believe it specifically mentions t White, but it seems like maybe the observer may have gotten win that this that this was coming, that this lawsuit was going to get filed, and maybe that's why they went to him to try to get quotes from him before the lawsuit got filed, so they would have them when the lawsuit dropped. Just a guess. I don't know that to be true, but that's just a guess because this article came out after his all staff email. He has not said whether he is running for reelection, but the Democrat primary in March already has three candidates, former Chief Deputy Rodney Collins, CMPD Sergeant Ricky Robbins and former jail officer Antoine Nance. In a June twenty twenty four internal report, this goes to the nature of the lawsuit the allegations now. Rigsby points out in this internal report a pay disparity. She was warning that there was a black woman in a managerial role at the Sheriff's office who was making less money than three supervisors who had less experience than she did and had less responsibility and less tenure. They were at the Sheriff's office for a fewer years. So you have this one woman who's a black woman in this role, but then you have three other, I guess, similarly situated supervisors who are not as qualified, and they're making more money, she says, and this is in the internal report. She said. If this is not corrected, it could result in legal action for the Sheriff's office. She told the then chief Deputy, Kevin Canty, who we've had on this program, And she told the human resources director Alexis Pearson that she was concerned that the pay disparity may be racially biased and illegal. McFadden is also black, and he denied Rigsby's request to adjust the employee's pay. Now, I don't know the race of these other supervisors. Rigsby has also claimed that McFadden asked her to alter governmental records after The Charlotte Observer filed the public records request for his travel expenses. So the Observer reported on his trips around the country, along with trips that other sheriffs in the Charlotte region took as well. His then executive assistant, Shelby Jones, calls up Riggsby about this record's request from the newspaper. Jones, the executive assistant to not my fault McFadden. Jones said that McFadden quote did not want all that, all the records in question. He did not want all that to go out. Yeah, it's a public records request. It's a Freedom of Information Act request like it's public record. So, according to the lawsuit, McFadden, through his assistant Jones, ordered Rigsby to change the records and that's no bueno. That is not good. Riggsby refused because she believed that the request was illegal. McFadden's request to change the data. She believed that that would be illegal and would implicate her in illegal conduct. She reported that this request was also unethical. Rigsby discovered and exposed that several employees were employed and being paid for services not performed. So we're just handing out checks to people that are these are no show jobs. So McFadden's been giving people no show jobs too. That was part of a fraud investigation in which the former business director was alleged to have contracted with personal friends who did not perform their contractual obligations to the department. No boyo. 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 CA Carolina. It's a great organization with awesome people with huge hearts. 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For a different future, for families, for more time, for treements. This is why we walk. Beckelberg County Sheriff Gary not my fault. McFadden has now issued a statement. It's actually a YouTube video. It's almost twelve minutes long. I have not even had a chance to watch all of this in its entirety. I've been watching little chunks of it during the breaks and such. The big takeaway is that he's not going to play the victim, but he is the victim. That's the message. I don't want to play victim, but I'm the victim. I'm betrayed. I lost count. Maybe I'll try to start counting again. How many times he says the word betray or betrayed, betrayaled? He says it a lot. He also makes up some other words, but like he says betrayed, I feel betrayed. Everybody betrayed me. And then he says that all of these executive staff officers who have left him that are all black, that they should have shown him loyalty because they wouldn't have otherwise gotten a job at such a prestigious organization. Which, wow, that is a thing to say. Let's take a listen. This is Sheriff Gary mc fadden of the Meckenburg County Sheriff's Office. For the past several weeks, months, and days, I have been questioned years, repeatedly, years, Sheriff, why don't you give a statement about what your ex employees, ex executive have said? Each time I would tell that person of those people, I can't buy law. But I can go at a graduation ceremony and just use that as an opportunity to just trash the people that we're filing these complaints against him. Yeah, that's what he So he can do that, but he just can't. I'm sorry, I cannot comment on personnel matters, and now obviously a federal lawsuit against him. The law prohibits me from talking about personnel matters. This past weekend, I was at an event and two people say, Sheriff tell them how you really feel, tell them about how you feel trade tell them what your family is going through, and tell them how your wife feel betrayed by the very people that you trusted and you actually entrusted them with your wife for their personal matters and personal well being and also personal growth. So after thinking about that time and time again, I want to come to you to try to give you some clarity on what I feel and what has happened. So it's trying to give this statement. We have to understand by law, I cannot talk about personal matters, y know, But they have the ability to talk about personal matters and they have the ability to be the victim. And I'm not going to play the role of the victim, but they do have that luxury to talk about what they believe and how they feel that they have been victims. And my statement today is not about personal matters, but it's about matters that our personal. To me. The first is how feel I feel betrayed betrayed. I feel that my loyalty was betrayed, my trust in my staff was betrayed, and most of all, the betrayal that my wife felt when I told her who said what and what was said and by whom. And I remember that because one of the ex executive staff members had weekly calls with her and they talked to help them move along in their career. But imagine having dinner with the same people with your wife presence. This was the first time my wife ever came involved with my work as a law enforcement officer for forty four years, and so I allowed her to come inside to see what we do. And so this is about my character, my reputation, my integrity, my loyalty, but most of all, it's about my legacy. And I have to tell you that I still feel portrayed, and my family feels portrayed, but most of all, my wife feel betrayed because she well knew how much she has helped several of these people and the conversation that she had with these people and recent conversations that we had with these people. And the reason that is so outstanding is because during the time before illness, we still kept in touch with them and we allowed certain people to come and visit her at the hospital. But we all know that my ex executives or executive staff, which should be the people that you can trust with any conversation when you have an executive staff, you believe that you can have these conversations, you can have these tough conversations and you move on. That is not the case here. No, from my. Executive staff, who should be my most trusted staff, is the most multiple betrayal of my agency. Okay, I don't know what the word multiple means, but that was another one. So he's up to ten mentions of betray or betrayal. Ten and we're only three minutes forty nine seconds into an eleven minute fifty second statement. All right, you hear me talk a lot about incentives, right, Well, let's talk about incentive trips, the kind that companies offer employees to fire them up and reward their teams. If you own a business or you work somewhere that offers these incentive trips, first off, good for you. But also there is a custom app that's a game changer for these trips. It's called Incentive trip Kit. Private group messaging, shared photos, you'r itinerary, travel details, all built into a single, easy to use app. There's even a traveler locator, so Carl accounting doesn't get left behind. The best part about Incentive trip Kit it's totally private no email captures, no sign ups, no cringe ads. It's simple, clean and secure, and when the trip is over, Incentive Trip Kit turns those highlights into a professional storytelling video. So think about it. 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It's never his fault. Well, that's because that's because a very large part of the people who were working there when he was started have resigned and gone other places. True. True that, yeah, they won't, they won't work for the guy. He had to close Jail North because he didn't have the staff to run the place, and he couldn't nobody would come to work for him. And I worked for the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's office, and I've not personally known the last four sheriffs, and they were leaders, all of them, everybody from C. W. Kidd up to Irwin Carmichael. Gary McFadden is not a leader. He does nothing except self aggrandizement and then blames everybody when they don't fall down and worship at his feet. I would say from the outside that appears to be an accurate representation. That's what it looks like from my vantage point as well. And I have no experience at the Sheriff's office. I'm sorry, you know my only the only thing I can say about that man is he is a disgrace to the office he holds. James, I appreciate the call, sir, Thank. You, thank you. All right, buddy, thank you letting me avam. Yes, sir, I understand. Let's get back to Gary's. By the way, he's sitting on a couch at an unflattering camera angle, reading off of a bunch of papers on his crossed knee. So here he is now and de portret. Oh and you hear them saying words like narcissists and godlike and all of that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What they should be saying is progressive, innovative, forward thinking. Oh my God, always direct and always clear, highly motivated, have hot expectations, demands accountability, but most of all caring, caring, most of all caring. So imagine for the first time people came to your home to eat. We have allowed the sheriff's deputies to come inside our home to eat, talk to my parents, talk to my in laws, and held my grandchildren. But now to be portrayed by some of these very people is unbelievable. The ultimate but most of all ultiple. I gave them grace, and they even have grace now because of the laws that will not permit me to talk about their personal time here, talked about their behavior here, talked about their evaluations here, and talked about all the things that we discuss. Hang on a second, you're giving them grace because you're not allowed to trash them. That's not how grace works. Gary, That's not great at all. That's you being restrained by the law. Because if you didn't have the law restraining you, I suspect you would have all sorts of things to say. You have said all sorts of things to them in the privacy of your super secret executive staff meetings. Right You've attacked them and savaged them in front of their coworkers and stuff. You belittle them and bully them. I mean, that's according to how many one, two, three, four, what do we have to now? Five? Are we had half a dozen former executive staff people who have quit your ranks because of you. It's you, dude, it's not everybody else. This is a you thing. But he can't see it. He won't acknowledge that doing executive staff meetings, the meetings that are held away from all other staff members, and the executive staff meetings should have been sacred. So like when you were like using racial slurs against your people, that's what you wanted to be sacred. That do I have that right? The ultiple betrayal is what you called it. I'm gonna start calling myself the multiple radio host on WBT, I am the ultiple radio host. It's a great title because it doesn't mean anything because the word is made up. It's not a real word. Should have loyalty, should have honesty, but it wasn't. My executive staff, most of all had betrayal. There's another one, And what was. Grace part of it? Because here's why I think grace is part of it. They had grace to see one of the most successful, outgoing progressive agencies here in North Carolina and possibly in America. And this is why I believe that a few of them seek employment here, not knowing that it was this progressive, this outspoken, this direct The sheriff holds people to accountability, and we asked to be honest. So basically, you were lucky to see me work. He feels betrayed because I let you see me work, and I'm progressive and outspoken and I care. It was with the utmost of caring. I dare say the ultiple of caring. When he called people racial slurs. See, that's just proof of how caring he is and why he wants all this stuff secret, and I guess probably why he wanted to keep the travel records secret and then tried to get them doctored, because that's that's what caring people do. That's what honesty is about changing your travel records under a Freedom of Information Act request. But we did not get that. We simply got portrayals, ahing and the grace which also allowed them time in their difficulties and not knowing how difficult it is to be the first and why we say the first, Well, I don't know how difficult it is to be the first of anything, but to be the first African American law enforcement officer to also be portrayed by African American executive staff members is also something that I would never fathom happening. Wait a minute, So you thought that just because you share a skin color, you should be able to abuse them or maybe behave unethically and that they would cover for you because they're black. Two. Wow, that is well, that is a management style. I guess that. I that's pretty astounding. By the way, I am up to now fifteen fifteen uses of the word betray or betrayal fifteen times in six and a half minutes, I think he feels betrayed. Guys. Game on Week one starts now, and every touchdown brings you closer to a payout. 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Because I gave them grace and I give them opportunity that most of them would have never had or would have never experienced by working for agency of this caliber. So, in other words, they're too they're not good enough to work at a sheriff's office of this caliber. Like what an overinflated sense this guy has of himself. Which all leaves mean to be baffled, because we all know in the African American community, the whispers are this, why does African Americans target African Americans when they're at the top of leadership. Why don't any of these ex executive staff members talked about their previous or previously employers or their previous staff even here at the Mackenburg County Sheriff's Office. Oh, I can answer that one is because you suck. That's why you're a terrible leader and manager. That's why they're saying these things. And the idea that you would expect them to stick together because of your race is an unbelievable admission to make as the top law enforcement officer. It's unbelievable. And so that leads me to the whispers of our community. Why now, Well, we all know it's election season, and we all know that I'm very outspoken, and we all know that the law is going to prohibit me to talk about personnel matters. So if one person's opened the door, it gives the advantage for other people to walk in and say what they want to say, but they will play the victim. I will not play the victim this whole time. But here's what I want you to understand that I understand in these days of trying to find out why, I don't need to know why. I just wish each and one of them good luck in wherever they may work. Again. I just ask that they don't be as deceiving and they do not betray the other the employers as they portrayed me. And someone said with Sheriff Macfatt, how do you go through this every day? Yesterday a young man said, what books that you read to stand all of this betrayal and all of this criticism they think you are subjected to. I don't think people are asking this, And I said, I. Have very good friends, number one, and I have very good sheriffs who have countlessly called me and say, stand strong, stand tall. We know who you are. The people that really know me, who really know me for over forty years, know that my dedication to this community, my dedication to the victims, and even the dedication to my staff, because what we are listening to is the executive staff members, and not the people in the hallways, not the people in the pods, not the people that I talk to daily, not the people of the chain of command. As they say, do I support the little man absolutely, wh I support the middleman absolutely? Do I support the executive staff absolutely? When you are honest, you are forthcoming, you're clear, and you're direct. Being on the executive level takes true leadership, true honesty and tough skin. Why because you're going to hear some things that you may not want to hear, because I'm requiring you to have accountability for others. I am not perfect, never ask to be perfect, and never will be perfect. All I was and still ask for is excellence. This is an agency of excellence and it always will be because this is what I expect each and every day. So if you want to work here, bring excellence. If you want to work here, bring honesty. If you want to work here, bring loyalty. If you want to work here, bring respect. But when people say, Sheriff, how do you do this? All the time, and you go on each and every day. How do you run an agency still be criticized and be betrayed by members of your staff, your current staff, and even the staff that have retired. I have a quote in one of my officers and a quote that I always look at, and it's about a gentleman who wrote about another gentleman in nineteen forty and in that that letter said, great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from the mediocre mind. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to buy blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinion courageously and honestly. That is out Einstein. This is what keeps me going every day, not to dwell in the minds of the mediocre thinker, but to dwell in the minds of a progressive thinker, a forward thinker, an honest thinker who will not betray him for his staff. I want to thank you for listening. This is my statement. I put this to rest, and I move forward. Thank you. I don't know there's a federal loss that I don't know if you're putting that to rest. Actually, Sheriff but I guess he considers himself to be the great spirit opposing being opposed by mediocre minds, and the final count there was twenty times he mentioned betrayed or betrayal in a twelve minute address. 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 dpetecalanarshow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.