Controversy Heats Up Over Nash Sheriff's Department

The deputies allegedly made homemade bombs that were placed in plastic bottles and sounded like gun shots when they exploded.

Thursday, police continued to find more homemade bombs, including one that may not be connected to the Nash officers.

Bailey Police Commissioner Vance Lamm says that it was two Nash County deputies that set one device off near the front window of the Bailey Police Department on Sept. 16. Apparently, the deputies were hoping to scare the officer inside.

"I don't really understand why one law officer would want to do anything to scare another law officer to a point where there is a possibility an innocent person or an innocent bystander could get hurt," Lamm said.

"Two deputies entered the police department and set off an explosive device next to the microwave," Middlesex Police Sgt. Pat Ridgway said.

With the same motive in mind, Ridgway said that the deputies planted another bomb inside the Middlesex Police Department on Sept. 26. He also said that the deputies set off more bombs later that night at a DWI checkpoint on Highway 231, and one blast scared an officer enough for him to draw his weapon and prepare to fire.

"What if one of the officers would have accidentally shot the other," Ridgway said. "This is not play time, this is police time. This is time to be professional."

"I feel like it was a prank," Nash County Sheriff's Maj. Richard Jenkins said. "I'd call it childish, but if they had it to do over again, they probably wouldn't do it."

Jenkins said that the two deputies could be punished and possibly terminated depending on what the investigation reveals. The Nash County Sheriff's Department refused to release the names of the deputies.

This incident is the second public relations problem that the Nash Sheriff's Department has face recently. Two week ago, two other deputies were fired for getting an 18-year-old to take them to a massage parlor. Reporter: Todd HauerPhotographer: Chad Flowers