Rep. Cunningham, Former MCSO Staff Seek Removal of Sheriff McFadden

State Rep. Carla Cunningham, the Charlotte Democrat who sparked controversy in July 2025 with a House floor speech castigating immigrants, filed a petition on the first Monday of the new year asking a Mecklenburg County judge to remove Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden from office.

Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) spokesperson Sarah Mastouri said the sheriff is aware of the complaint but declined to comment.

According to the petition, McFadden called Cunningham over the summer to lobby her not to vote to override Gov. Josh Stein’s veto of House Bill 318, which requires sheriffs to hold ICE detainees without a warrant for 48 hours.

McFadden had been a vocal critic of the bill, which he said would damage his office’s relationship with the immigrant community in Mecklenburg County and lead to higher jail costs.

According to Cunningham’s sworn affidavit, McFadden said to her that the people in her district would “come after” her if she voted to override the veto, and said, “I don’t want to see you get hurt; you live in my county.”

Cunningham, the affidavit says, understood those statements to be “a threat by McFadden to either physically harm her, or to withdraw or refuse her any protection from members of the public who would physically harm her.”

The petition alleges that McFadden was attempting to extort or bribe Cunningham to change her vote to override the veto.

NC Newsline asked Cunningham’s spokeswoman Kate Payne if the lawmaker had a recording or any other evidence of the conversation. Payne did not immediately respond.

Cunningham’s controversial floor speech during the H318 veto override vote angered many immigrants and advocates as well as members of her own party, who accused her of working with Republican leaders to undermine the governor.

Cunningham has said she received violent threats and had to hire private security in the aftermath of her speech. The longtime Democratic lawmaker is facing several primary challengers in March. One of them, Rev. Rodney Sadler, announced Monday that he has received Stein’s endorsement.

More trouble for Garry McFadden

Cunningham’s petition-for-removal lawsuit was jointly signed by several former sheriff’s office employees who also accuse Garry McFadden of misuse of resources, retaliation against whistleblowers, understaffing the detention center and other alleged misconduct.

In January 2022, Queen City Nerve published an in-depth story about former MCSO employees who were speaking out against McFadden’s policies in the wake of a rise in violent incidents within the Mecklenburg County Detention Center that one former assistant facility commander attributed to an “old-school jail mentality.” Since then, more staff under McFadden have publicly spoken out.

Read more: Former Staff Speaks Out About Issues at Mecklenburg County Jail (2022)

On Nov. 1, 2024, former MCSO Chief Deputy Kevin D. Canty announced his resignation with a scathing letter that accused McFadden of abusing his power and cultivating a toxic culture in the department by way of verbal abuse, retaliatory action and other dysfunctional behavior.

In his 2024 letter, Canty said he was proud to join Sheriff McFadden’s office, as he had voted twice for Mecklenburg County’s first Black sheriff, but once he joined the department he learned that some of the allegations he had heard about McFadden were “100% accurate,” describing how he witnessed McFadden tell effortless lies only to react with anger when confronted with evidence of those lies.

“The MCSO functions like a third-world dictatorship with no one following the chain-of-command, which you openly and repeatedly flaunt and encourage staff not to follow,” Canty wrote in his resignation letter to McFadden. “This has resulted in pure chaos. In my thirty-three years of law enforcement experience with now four agencies, I have never witnessed such dysfunction. I have never worked in such a toxic and abusive environment and have never seen an agency head conduct himself in such a classless and abusive manner as you.”

Canty was one of five signees of Cunningham’s petition for removal from office on Jan. 5, 2026. The petition details ways in which McFadden creates an unsafe environment in the Uptown jail, including by putting inmates above staff members, relaxing or refusing to enforce rules in the facility, and undermining the authority of MCSO detention officers by keeping the jail understaffed.

The 32-page petition also alleges that McFadden makes threats and carries out retaliation against whistleblowers, crime victims and others; misused official resources to benefit himself and his reelection campaigns; and other misconduct.

On Jan. 5, Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather confirmed receipt of the petition and announced that his office would request that the NC State Bureau of Investigations investigate each allegation in the document and report back to him for consideration.

NCGA probe targets Mecklenburg leaders

The filing of the complaint came the same day NC House Republican leaders announced they subpoenaed McFadden to appear before an oversight committee on Jan. 22 to testify about the killing of Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte transit in August 2025, and to answer questions about allegations that he is still promoting DEI initiatives in defiance of a state law prohibiting them.

In a release on Jan. 5, McFadden confirmed that he planned to testify before the NC House Oversight Committee, of which Cunningham is a member, alongside other county and city officials and intends to fully cooperate with the committee’s recently announced probe of Charlotte leaders.

“I respect the oversight process and welcome the opportunity to testify. I have nothing to hide,” McFadden stated in that release. “Unlike municipal police departments and most other sheriff’s offices across the state, MCSO does not answer calls for service. Our responsibilities are focused on operating the county jail system, courthouse security, civil processes, and detention-related duties. That distinction matters when evaluating policies, resources, and accountability. I will ensure that state lawmakers receive accurate and credible information.”

McFadden, a Democrat in his eighth year as sheriff, is seeking a third term in 2026.

In a letter announcing his latest reelection campaign on Nov. 5, 2025, McFadden seemed to reference the repeated allegations that have plagued his tenure as sheriff.

“True leadership is tested not in moments of comfort, but in seasons of challenge — when betrayal cuts deep, loyalty is questioned, and dishonesty threatens the foundation of trust,” McFadden wrote. “Real leaders stand firm in integrity, guided by purpose rather than popularity. They refuse to compromise their values, mission, or vision for convenience.”

A portion of this article was originally published by the States Newsroom, which includes NC Newsline. Ryan Pitkin with Queen City Nerve contributed additional reporting before publishing here.