Former Winston-Salem Police Officer Convicted on Cocaine Charges

LAW ENFORCEMENT June 1993

Former Winston-Salem police officer Joy Barber was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine May 7 by a federal jury (Ian Hoffman, "Former Officer Is Convicted On Drug Charges: Jury Acquits Barber On Two Counts But Finds Her Guilty Of Conspiracy To Traffic Cocaine With Her Boyfriend," Winston-Salem Journal, 5/8/93, p. 1).

Barber joined the Winston-Salem police in 1989. Her boyfriend, Leroy Richardson, was arrested for cocaine trafficking in July 1992. Subsequent to his arrest, another drug dealer, Christian Smith, visited Richardson at Barber's apartment, and later testified he saw crack cocaine there. Smith also said Barber tipped him and Richardson off that they were under surveillance by police.

When Richardson was arrested a second time in September 1992, detectives said he told them Barber permitted him to store cocaine at her apartment and drove him to drug deliveries. Barber faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years without parole.