A Sampson County sheriff’s corporal was arrested early Saturday morning and immediately terminated from his position after being accused of assaulting and threatening a woman in connection with an alleged May incident in Harnett County.
Cpl. Joseph Rusk-Madison, a 10-year veteran of the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office, was taken into custody at his Sampson County residence around 4:30 a.m. Saturday after warrants were issued charging him with assault on a female and communicating threats, according to Chief Deputy Marcus Smith.
The Sheriff’s Office received a third-party complaint concerning the alleged incident approximately two weeks ago, despite the incident reportedly occurring in May.
“We were just notified about the incident two weeks ago,” Smith said Monday. “The incident happened in May. We did our own investigation into it.”
According to the Sheriff’s Office, internal investigators contacted the alleged victim after receiving the complaint and began looking into the allegations. Investigators subsequently met with the woman and directed her to the appropriate jurisdiction to pursue criminal charges because the alleged incident occurred in Harnett County.
Smith said the woman met with Sampson County authorities Wednesday and later pursued charges. Warrants were issued Saturday accusing Rusk-Madison of assault on a female and communicating threats.
Sampson County deputies served the warrants within approximately two hours, Smith said, rather than having another law enforcement agency take Rusk-Madison into custody or allowing him to surrender himself.
“We served him the papers ourselves, arrested him as well instead of letting him turn himself in and delivered him to Harnett County,” Smith explained. “We took care of it ourselves instead of passing the buck onto another agency.”
Rusk-Madison was transported to the Harnett County Detention Center in Lillington, where he was being held rather than at the Sampson County Detention Center.
Housing a law enforcement officer outside his employing agency’s jurisdiction can help avoid potential conflicts of interest associated with holding an officer alongside detainees at a facility operated by his own agency. Harnett County authorities have indicated that their detention center has housed Sampson County detainees in such circumstances.
Rusk-Madison was also subject to a mandatory 48-hour domestic violence hold following his arrest, Smith said.
Under North Carolina law, certain defendants charged with domestic violence offenses are subject to special pretrial release procedures. N.C. General Statute 15A-534.1 provides that a judge is responsible for determining conditions of pretrial release during the first 48 hours following an arrest in qualifying domestic violence cases. If a judge does not act within that period, a magistrate may then determine the conditions of release.
Smith said Rusk-Madison was expected to appear before a judge Monday, at which time a bond amount and other conditions of release could be determined. That information was not available before the Independent’s press time.
The criminal case will be handled in Harnett County, where the alleged incident occurred.
“As a result of the investigation and pending criminal charges, the officer’s employment with the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office was immediately terminated,” officials stated in a release.
Rusk-Madison had served with the Sampson County Sheriff’s Office for 10 years before his termination.