City worker charged
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on October 3, 2008 1:46 PM
A Goldsboro city employee was arrested on drug charges Tuesday at City Hall.
Darryl Best, 43, is a senior planner with the city Planning Department and a city employee since 1999.
City Manager Joe Huffman said that Best is currently on non-disciplinary suspension without pay.
Goldsboro Police Chief Tim Bell said that the investigation, which involves the Drug Enforcement Administration in conjunction with the district attorney's office in the Eastern District, has been a long, ongoing one.
"This is a bigger type, historical case," he said. "This was a much more intensive investigation dealing with witnesses and interviews and all that ofhistorical nature."
DEA officials were the arresting officers.
Bell said that the charges are federal ones, and therefore, federal agents must make the arrest. DEA officials were contacted as to specific charges but didn't return calls by press time.
City Hall was decided upon as the arresting location since Bell said officials knew that's where Best would be.
"We had planned the arrest, and we felt like that was the best place. We weren't expecting any trouble, and that was just a place where we knew he would be. We tried not to make a lot of disturbance around his house," Bell said.
"Rest assured, this was an intensive case that has gone on for months and months, and it's not like he was sitting in City Hall with cocaine on him. That was definitely not the case," Bell added.
He said that his knowledge about the investigation was very limited because it is a federal case.
Bell said a detention hearing for Best was set for today.