Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
WLOSers got the scoop Friday night, reporting that former Woodfin police Chief Pete Bradley had been arrested on federal charges. WLOSers had video of Bradley being booked at the Buncombe County Detention Center.
Bradley has been at the center of controversies for several years, and it’s quite a twisted tale. Here’s the rough version: Bradley grows up in a well-to-do Biltmore Forest family, and ends up working for the North Carolina DMV. He apparently complains about getting passed over for a promotion and cites political corruption, which triggers an investigation.
As the quiet investigation starts, Bradley gets named Woodfin police chief. But somebody leaks a part of the State Bureau of Investigation’s report on the DMV scandal — the part of the SBI uncovering the fact that Bradley liked to spend time in Atlanta hanging out with men who like to get together and wear diapers.
That revelation spurs the Woodfin town board to dismiss Bradley. Bradley sues the town, claiming he was unjustly fired, and wins. Word on the street at the time was that Bradley won $1 million from the town.
In September 2005, Bradley’s wife turns up dead at the Bradleys’ Biltmore Forest home, the victim of an apparent suicide, according to a medical examiner’s report. But rumors swirl that Bradley actually killed his wife.
Bradley is later charged with assaulting his wife before her suicide and he goes to court, where he’s found guilty in District Court, appeals and is found guilty again in Superior Court in 2007. He spends 30 days in jail.
Now we have Bradley arrested on federal charges, but nobody this weekend knows what those charges are. Bradley all along has insisted that somebody’s out to get him.
There’s so much more to this story that’s never come to light. Will it ever?
