More Durham Detention Center Employees Charged, Weeks After Two Other Arrests :: WRAL.com

The Durham County Sheriff’s Office said Friday evening that it has disciplined a detention officer and a civilian contractor.

According to Durham County Sheriff Clarence Burkhead, 45-year-old Nicole Locke, who was a sergeant at the detention center, was arrested Friday and charged with the following crimes.

• Two counts of felony conspiracy.
• One misdemeanor charge of providing a phone/electronics to inmates.
• One count of felony conspiracy.

Deputies said Locke was released on a $15,000 unsecured bond.

According to Locke’s arrest warrant, Locke supplied components for a cell phone to an inmate in August.

While reviewing the arrest warrant, WRAL News discovered that the inmate who received the cell phone was the the same prisoner accused of having sex with two former detention center employees.

Both former employees were charged and WRAL News is not publicly identifying the inmate.

The second person, 31-year-old Briana Bowie, a former nurse who contracted with the detention center, was also arrested and charged with one felony count of conspiracy to sell Schedule VI controlled substances.

Bowie’s arrest warrant accuses Bowie of bringing marijuana to the detention center and giving it to an inmate. The arrest warrants then stated that the inmate planned to sell the drugs at the detention center.

The sheriff said Locke and Bowie are no longer associated with the detention center.

“I will not support any activity that contradicts our mission in the care and custody of the people incarcerated in the Durham County Detention Facility. Whether it’s a Sheriff’s Office employee or a contractor,” he said in a statement to WRAL News. “We must hold everyone who interacts with our residents to a high standard.”