Sheriff held in plot to sell seized drugs

A sheriff and 12 current and former officers in a hard-luck rural county that once billed itself the Sweatshirt Capital of the World were charged in a scheme to resell drugs seized from criminals.

A former postal worker, a former probation officer and five other people also were indicted by federal prosecutors. The charges included racketeering, conspiracy, weapons counts, narcotics distribution, obstruction of justice and perjury.

H. Franklin Cassell -- the sheriff of Henry County, a former textile hub about 50 miles south of Roanoke -- was quoted by investigators as having said the only way to acquire wealth was to be “a little crooked and not get caught.”