Hovie Pope Jr., the former Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington and New Hanover County law enforcement officer indicted on embezzlement charges, appeared in New Hanover County District 5 Superior Court Monday, Sept. 8. Pope’s case was continued until the next Superior Court session Monday, Oct. 13.
Pope appeared with his two sons, Troy Pope and Jeffrey Pope, both also law enforcement officers.
Wilmington attorney G. Frank Jones is representing Pope in the case and Durham financial crimes attorney Thomas Mitchell Garrell is the prosecutor. An email to Garrell was not returned by press time Wednesday, Sept. 10. Jones said he could not communicate on a pending case during a Wed. Sept. 10 phone interview.
With a conflict of interest in the case for the New Hanover County District Attorney’s office, Garrell was assigned to prosecute Pope by the North Carolina Conference of District Attorneys. The conference of district attorneys was established as a state agency in 1983 and is not affiliated with the North Carolina Department of Justice or the Attorney General’s office.
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. The North Carolina Internal Affairs Investigators Association still lists Pope as one of its honorary members.
Pope was served an Order For Arrest on a True Bill on Indictment for Embezzlement in July, turned himself in the week of July 28 and was issued a $10,000 unsecured bond.
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