STANLY COUNTY, N.C. — A Stanly County court official is on leave and under investigation by the SBI amidst questions she may have used her job to keep her son out of jail.
Susan Honeycutt was the trial court coordinator for the four district judges that serve Stanly, Anson and Richmond counties.
Court officials and state officials refuse to comment on when Honeycutt was placed on leave, and when the SBI investigation began, but the Stanly County District Attorney's Office has confirmed they requested special prosecutors from the N.C. Attorney General's Office to handle the case.
In a review of his court records, Eyewitness News discovered in each of those cases, the charges were either dismissed or reduced to lesser charges.
Between 2005 and 2009, Honeycutt's 25-year-old son, Daylan Honeycutt, has been called to court in Stanly County for eleven different cases involving charges such as exceeding safe speed, harassing phone calls, trespassing, reckless driving and DWI.
District Judge Scott Brewer, who worked closely with Honeycutt, told Channel 9 neither he nor or any of the other judges were involved in any sort of dismissals or charge reductions.
When asked if it was common, in his experience, to have nearly a dozen cases either dismissed or reduced to lesser charges, he responded, "It happens."
Twice, Daylan has faced criminal charges in other counties.
In 2007, for exceeding safe speed in Brunswick County, and in 2012, for DWI in Mecklenburg County. In each of those cases, Daylan was convicted.
Daylan has pending legal issues that include a 2010 arrest for trafficking drugs, after an Albemarle Police officer said he found Daylan in possession of Oxycodone.
Former Albemarle Police Chief -- and current Albemarle city councilman -- Ronnie Michael confirmed to Eyewitness News that the officer reported to him an incident in a Stanly County Park where he said Susan Honeycutt offered him memorabilia from country music star Kellie Pickler to drop Daylan's case.
Michael said he told the officer to report the incident to the Stanly County District Attorney's office, and he told Channel 9 the SBI is now investigating that officer's report.
Daylan's drug trafficking case is still pending, along with a recent arrest for assault on a female.
Eyewitness News tried to reach Daylan and Susan Honeycutt for weeks; attending his court appearance, which was continued, stopping by the home they share, and leaving phone messages.
None of the attempts to reach the Honeycutts was successful.
District Attorney Reece Saunders told Eyewitness News that the cases that were dismissed or reduced to lesser charges all occurred before he took office in 2011.
Saunders said he has since instituted a policy that if an employee of the District Attorney's Office becomes aware of any matter involving alleged misconduct by public officials or public employees it must immediately be brought to his attention.