Hollis Britt was arrested Thursday by State Bureau of Investigation agents and Lumberton police on charges including sexual activity by a custodian and crimes against nature. He was released on a $20,000 bond.
According to County Manager Ken Windley, county policy states that an employee is subject to immediate dismissal if convicted of a crime or if a plea of guilty is entered. Windley plans to review the facts of the case, but said Britt’s employment status will not change until his case is resolved.
Britt, 61, was suspended Oct. 3. He is one of four people — the other three worked with the Sheriff’s Office — suspected of having sex with a woman who was in their custody. The others have not been charged. One formerly supervised the bailiffs, one was a bailiff and another was a jailer.
According to Sheriff Kenneth Sealey, a bailiff and a jailer were fired Oct. 4. A second bailiff retired Oct. 5.
Few details have been released surrounding the allegations against Britt, which involve a woman in the pretrial release program. The SBI began its investigation in October after receiving information from an agency about the allegations.
Britt was hired as a pretrial response officer at the Robeson County Offender Resource Center in March 2006. His duties included supervising house-arrest clients, responding to violations and preparing orders for arrest, maintaining records and scheduling electronic house-arrest clients, and retrieving inmates from jailers to set up electronic house arrest.
The pre-release program provides an alternative sentencing option for the courts and helps relieve crowding at the Robeson County jail.
Britt served two years in prison after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of his wife in 1979. At the time of her death, he was a Highway Patrol trooper.
Britt is well-known in the Lumberton area for teaching classes on shag dancing.
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