Former local law enforcement officer Hovie Pope pled guilty to three counts of embezzlement in front of 5th District Superior Court Judge Alan Cobb Jr. Monday, Nov. 18, at the New Hanover County Courthouse.
Pope was charged by a New Hanover County Grand Jury with embezzling $31,680 from the North Carolina Internal Affairs Investigators Association during the time he was an active member of that organization. Pope served as the association’s president from 2002-03, and its treasurer.
Pope was represented by Wilmington attorney Frank Jones and prosecuted by Mitchell Garrell, a Durham attorney selected by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys’ office in Raleigh.
The condition of Pope’s plea agreement included 24-39 months of a suspended sentence pending a five-year supervised probationary period, which will begin at the end of a 30-day electronic house arrest. Pope’s house arrest began immediately following Monday’s court date.
A suspended sentence means a judge may drop the sentence if Pope does not break the law during that period and fulfills the particular conditions of the probation.
In a Tuesday, Nov. 18 email, Tammy Smith, N.C. Conference of District Attorneys White Collar Crime Resource Prosecutor, stated Pope was ordered to pay $23,680 in restitution after already repaying $8,000 in advance of the plea. Smith stated Pope’s probation could be extended another three years if he does not pay all of the restitution by the end of his five-year probationary period.
Along with his sentence and ordered restitution, Pope was barred from being employed by or volunteering for any law-enforcement agencies.
Pope was formerly employed by the Wilmington Police, Wrightsville Beach Police and New Hanover County Sherriff’s departments.
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