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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
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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
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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
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