A former narcotics lieutenant with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office has been sentenced to four to seven years in prison for stealing evidence and forging court orders to obtain prescriptions.
Joseph Antoine LeBlanc, 42, pleaded guilty to 100 felony charges in New Hanover County Superior Court on Monday, according to court records. Superior Court Judge Doug Parsons sentenced LeBlanc to 56-86 months in the N.C. Department of Corrections.
LeBlanc pleaded guilty to four counts of embezzlement; four counts of obstruction of justice; four counts of altering, destroying or stealing criminal evidence; four counts of obtaining property by false pretense; 28 counts of uttering forged papers; 28 counts of forgery; and 28 counts of obtaining a controlled substance by misrepresentation, fraud, forgery, deception or subterfuge.
More than 40 counts of trafficking opium or heroin and 21 counts of felony possession of a schedule II controlled substance were dismissed as part of the plea agreement. The total maximum sentence LeBlanc could have faced if convicted on all charges was 285 years in prison, according to LeBlanc’s plea agreement.
LeBlanc was indicted on more than 100 criminal charges related to drug activity and forgery on Dec. 9, 2013. Indictments allege LeBlanc stole evidence–including pills–and forged court orders to obtain prescription drugs from a CVS pharmacy on South College Road. LeBlanc forged signatures of New Hanover County Superior Court judges and assistant district attorneys to obtain the prescriptions, according to District Attorney Ben David.
Read related story: Former lieutenant indicted on more than 100 criminal charges
The indictments list offense dates of May 2011, November 2012, December 2012, January 2013 and April 2013.
LeBlanc was hired with the sheriff’s office on March 11, 1996. He was fired from the sheriff’s office in June 2013 for allegedly violating the sheriff’s office standard operating procedures, rules and regulations in truthfulness, evidence procedures and drug policy, according to New Hanover County Sheriff Ed McMahon.
At the time of his termination, LeBlanc was an assistant division commander of the vice and narcotics unit and earned an annual salary of $60,174.
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Christina Haley is a crime and courts reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at (910) 772-6337 or [email protected].
