MORGANTON, N.C.,None — A Morganton attorney and former director of Governor Beverly Perdue's Western Office in Asheville has been indicted by a Wake County grand jury on two felony charges: one for filing false reports and a second for obstruction of justice.
Julia Leigh Sitton, also known as Juleigh, is the second Morganton resident indicted in an investigation into payments of air travel for Perdue leading up to her 2008 election win. Sitton was one of three people indicted Monday.
Robert Lee Caldwell of Morganton was indicted earlier this year for felony obstruction of justice in relation to the investigation.
A third person with ties to Morganton, businessman Charles "Mike" Fulenwider, is named within the indictments. He has not been charged.
Sitton resigned in August from her post at the governor's Western Office. She also resigned, effective Nov. 26, from the Western Piedmont Community College Board of Trustees, where she served as a governor-appointed trustee.
Sitton did not return calls for comment.
Sitton is the daughter of WPCC Board of Trustees Chair and retired Superior Court Judge Claude Sitton and Jo Sitton, an active member of the Democratic Party.
The grand jury indicted Sitton and Trawick H. "Buzzy" Stubbs Jr., a former law partner with Perdue's late first husband in New Bern, with one felony count each of false reports and obstruction of justice.
Peter Anthony Reichard of Greensboro was indicted on one count of felony obstruction of justice.
The indictments allege Sitton and Reichard hid $32,000 in payments to Sitton from Tryon Capital Ventures LLC for working full-time for Perdue's campaign.
The Bev Perdue Committee paid Sitton, who was working full-time, $3,000 per month and reported the campaign expenditure, but Tryon paid Sitton an additional $2,000 per month for 16 months, according to the indictment. Those payments were not reported as campaign expenditures.
"The $32,000 paid to the defendant by Tryon was funded by Charles Michael Fulenwider who paid the money to Tryon disguised as consulting services when no such services were provided," Sitton's indictment said.
Reichard is accused of soliciting money from Fulenwider and allowing him to make "excessive" contributions to Tryon, which allowed for the payments to Sitton.
Fulenwider has not been charged. He did not respond to The News Herald's request for a comment.
It's up to a district attorney to submit bills of indictment to a grand jury.
Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby Jr., said it's not appropriate for him to comment about why others connected in the case have not been indicted.
Willoughby said there may be other indictments in the case at a later time.
The grand jury also indicted Sitton on false reports, alleging Sitton knew campaign reports filed with the state board of elections were not true. Stubbs was indicted on the same charge.
Stubbs is also accused of contributing more than $28,000 to Perdue's campaign after he made the maximum contributions allowed by law. State law limits an individual's giving to a candidate committee to $4,000 per election.
The indictment said he made the excess payments through his law firm, Stubbs and Perdue, PA by "paying for numerous flights for the use and benefit of (The Bev Perdue Committee) between Jan. 1, 2007 and Nov. 1, 2008, the cost of which exceeded $28,000."
Those payments were not reported to the governor's committee or to the state board of elections, the indictment said.
This is not the first time Fulenwider has been connected to people who have been indicted for campaign wrongdoing connected to an investigation into Perdue's undisclosed flights.
In February, Caldwell was indicted for felony obstruction of justice.
The indictment says Caldwell got James Fleming, a Morganton barber, to write a check to the committee but reimbursed Fleming for the check with cash from an unnamed source. It says Caldwell then used Fleming's check to pay Profile Aviation for air travel for the committee and then reported it as an in-kind campaign contribution from Fleming.
The indictment says Caldwell knew that Fleming didn't make the contribution but that it came from another unnamed source.
An invoice for the flight from Profile Aviation Services' was initially made out to Fulenwider Enterprises, which is a restaurant company run by Fulenwider.
However, Fulenwider Enterprises was marked out on the invoice and replaced with "Perdue for Governor," along with a post office box number.
According to the state board of elections' report, the post office box is the same one provided for Charles "Mike" Fulenwider on campaign finance reports.
Caldwell's case is still pending, Willoughby said. It may be put on the court calendar for Dec. 12, he said. That calendar has not been set yet.
Dec. 12 is when Willoughby said he believes all four cases of those indicted could come before the court.
While four have been indicted, Willoughby said Monday that he didn't expect Perdue would be charged. He said none of the evidence from an investigation indicated any misconduct by Perdue or any elected officials. Perdue has cooperated with the investigation, he said.
The district attorney began an investigation last year after the SBOE began looking into Perdue's campaign committee. In August 2010, the SBOE fined The Bev Perdue Committee $30,000 for failing to report more than 40 flights leading up to the 2008 election.
At the time, Perdue's campaign spokesman said the problems were due to inadequate and sloppy monitoring efforts while Perdue was lieutenant governor and a gubernatorial candidate.
Willoughby has said that Perdue was not the focus of the investigation.
He said within the US Justice System a person is responsible for their behavior but not vicariously responsible for other people's behavior.