A Wake County Sheriff's Office deputy has been fired and criminally charged after investigators say he used law-enforcement databases to look up active felony warrants and then warned the people named in them. Anthony Garcia was arrested on Thursday and now faces one felony count of accessing government computers and one felony count of obstruction of justice.
According to WRAL, investigators received reports that a deputy had improperly used government property, which triggered the probe that led to Garcia's arrest. Court documents reportedly allege that Garcia used law enforcement databases on government computers to find active felony warrants and then warned the people subject to those warrants, according to the same report. Both outlets describe Garcia as 29 years old, and the two outlets also differ slightly on how they describe his computer-access charge, with CBS17 reporting it as accessing government computers for fraud.
CBS17's account says Garcia was arrested at the John H. Baker Public Safety Center, while WRAL reported the arrest took place at the sheriff's office on Thursday, November 5, 2026. Court records cited by CBS17 place the alleged conduct in late December 2024. The station reports Garcia was hired by the sheriff's office in August 2020 and is no longer employed there.
Sheriff Says Office Acted Quickly
Wake County Sheriff Willie Rowe addressed the allegations in a statement to CBS17, saying, “we took immediate action and launched an investigation.” Rowe elaborated that law-enforcement resources should serve the community and that the office would not tolerate conduct compromising public trust.
Garcia was released from custody after posting a secured bond of $30,000, per CBS17's report.
Part of a Broader Pattern Across North Carolina
Garcia's case follows a string of recent North Carolina investigations into officers accused of misusing law-enforcement technology. WLOS reports that a number of law enforcement officials across the state have faced investigations for alleged misuse of automated license plate readers.
In that same report, former Harnett County Sheriff's Office detective Jayne Louise Holland, 45, was indicted on one felony count of unlawfully accessing a government computer and one misdemeanor count tied to an automated license plate reader system. Holland was taken into custody at the Wake County Detention Center and given a $5,000 bond, and the Harnett County Sheriff's Office and Harnett County District Attorney's Office had asked the State Bureau of Investigation to look into her conduct, WLOS reported.
The outlet also noted that in October, a former Brunswick County Sheriff's Office deputy faced more than a dozen charges after being accused of misusing Flock Safety cameras, and a Macon County Sheriff's Office deputy was fired that same month over reported misuse of license plate readers.
