The chairman of the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners says claims by a local town council member that he committed “malfeasance” in office are false and that a State Bureau of Investigation inquiry will vindicate him.
“I think it is just a malicious vendetta, politically motivated,” Steve Morris told The Charlotte Observer this week.
The SBI is investigating “allegations of potential collusion and fraud” involving Morris, agency spokeswoman Anjanette Gruber said in a statement.
In January, the SBI received a request from the Cabarrus County District Attorney to investigate the claims, Gruber said. She declined to detail the allegations.
In a news release Tuesday, District Attorney Ashlie Shanley said her office followed standard procedure when Midland council member Richard Wise asked her office to request the SBI “look into a claim regarding the County Commission.”
“The District Attorney’s Office does not investigate any complaints and makes no assertion about the validity of the claim when making a referral to the SBI,” Shanley said.
Her office forwarded the complaint to the SBI in January and awaits a report from the agency, she said.
When The Observer asked Wise to specify his allegations, he declined. Sharing details could jeopardize the SBI investigation, he said.
Wise previously told a local news outlet that he called for the outside investigation because Morris, first elected a county commissioner in 2012, is “very influential in Cabarrus...
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