Sheriff Garry McFadden shows signs of ‘Mc-Failure’ his policies have failed, his leadership has failed, his racist attitude has failed, the jail has failed. Now his own employees have took court action to throw him out of office
In January 2026 several county officials and former jail employees filed a lawsuit to remove Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden from office. North Carolina House Rep. Carla Cunningham, Chief Deputy Kevin Canty, and 3 jail employees of the sheriff’s office filed a court petition to throw Sheriff Mcfadden out of office. Garry Mcfadden was even heard on audio recording calling his own employees nigger and cracker. Chief Deputy Kevin Canty and the 3 jail employees actually left their sheriff’s office job because Garry Mcfadden is a pain to work with.
Chief Detention Officer Telisa White even said that Garry McFadden is rude, unprofessional, and narcissistic when she worked for him. Chief Telisa retired last year and did not file the court petition. Follow Charlotte Alerts on Instagram.
The court group accused Sheriff McFadden of misconduct, attempted extortion, mismanagement, and a habitual refusal to perform duties of the office. The deaths among inmates at the Mecklenburg County Jail has been immense under Garry Mcfadden. In fact the jail has been grossly mismanaged under the disproportionate leadership of Sheriff Garry Mcfadden.
The court petition claimed Garry McFadden violated the Hatch Act, by making sheriff’s office staff work on his campaign website. The Hatch Act limits political activities of government employees.
The court petition also claims Sheriff McFadden made deputies take National Sheriffs Association members to bars and strip clubs in sheriff’s office vehicles during a conference in Charlotte.
Garry Mcfadden is also accused of violating sheriff’s department policy by using sheriff’s department credit cards to pay for upgrades to hotel rooms and first class flights and using sheriff’s office vehicles for personal travel.
The court petition also says Sheriff Mcfadden weaponized his agency’s internal affairs division and started investigations of deputies, detention officers, and civilian staff based on his personal animosity towards them, when there was no suspicion of any actual misconduct.
The court documents go on to say Garry Mcfadden repeatedly directed that reserve deputies in Mecklenburg County work security at Johnson C. Smith University sporting events and parades even foregoing paying the deputies money they had earned.
Now that the court petition is filed state law requires District Attorney Spencer Merriweather or County Attorney Tyrone Wade to approve the petition. Let it be known that District Attorney Spencer Merriweather has a very soft stance on pressing charges on law enforcement or proceeding with court action against them. Merriweather refused to prosecute U.S. Marshals that killed a black man on video at a gas station.
Merriweather will likely decline to move forward with the court petition on Garry Mcfadden. Merriweather has summoned the SBI to investigate the claims and then after the SBI investigation is complete, then Merriweather will decide on if the court petition can proceed. Video shows a black man being killed by cops at Burger King, Merriweather took another soft stance and refused to prosecute the cop. The family won a $1.5 million lawsuit.
But just one week after the court petition was filed, the defense moved the court to dismiss the case due to the district attorney and county attorney not yet approving the petition.
At the hearing the judge asked District Attorney Spencer Merriweather and County Attorney Tyrone Wade if they approved of the court removal of Garry Mcfadden, they both said no. Hence Judge R. Stuart Albright dismissed the court petition against the sheriff on January 15, 2026.
However after the SBI investigation, Spencer Merriweather or the county attorney will have a final decision on if the court petition can be refiled and go forth in court. If so, then the decision will be up to a judge to remove the sheriff.
Garry McFadden refuses to take accountability for his reckless actions and mismanagement of the jail, instead he says jail staffers betrayed him; and his only faults are trusting people too easily, giving people chances and expecting loyalty in return.
