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GREENSBORO - Federal prosecutors are "gravely concerned" about notes from undercover drug cases appearing in a weekly newspaper, but they will not take a lead in investigating possible leaks.

In a letter hand-delivered to the police department Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Anna Mills Wagoner responded to interim police Chief Tim Bellamy's fear that a Sept. 21 article in the Rhinoceros Times "potentially compromised" two ongoing missing persons and possible homicide cases.

The same article revealed that two U.S. Customs agents were working undercover and quoted a verbatim conversation between the agents and the drug kingpin they were investigating.

Wagoner's comments came in response to a sharply critical letter Bellamy sent to her by certified mail Friday, signifying a widening rift between the federal and city agencies.

"I am very disappointed that you do not feel the public release of such information requires any action by your office, " Bellamy wrote. "... There is no question in my mind that the act of releasing this information has the potential of endangering lives."

The two missing persons cases Bellamy referred to were mentioned in the article: the disappearances of Sterling Porter, reported missing in 1997, and Sonjah Kingston, last seen in 2002.

Both Porter and Kingston had connections to Elton Turnbull, the convicted drug dealer whom former police Chief David Wray's Special Intelligence squad suspected of colluding with Lt. James Hinson. The unit never found evidence of illegal drug activity by Hinson.

Wray resigned in January, seven months after Hinson, a black police lieutenant, caught the covert unit trailing him while on duty. At the time, lawyers for Hinson said Special Intelligence was unfairly investigating black police officers, which Wray denied.

Where the Rhinoceros Times article may have raised flags for police was a section that quoted Turnbull telling the two undercover Customs agents that he was bringing Colombians to Greensboro to collect debts and to take care of people causing trouble for him. Without attributing its source, the article said Turnbull told the agents he didn't just want the Colombians merely to "hurt" those causing problems.

"People in the hospital talk," the article quoted Turnbull as saying. "I want them in the cemetery."

Rhinoceros Times editor John Hammer said Wednesday that the city has not offered any specific examples to him about why the stories are harmful.

"We certainly wouldn't want to do anything to endanger anyone undercover," Hammer said. "If they came back with something like that, we could modify what we were doing."

As for the missing persons, he said: "They have been missing for a long time, and I don't think anyone is looking for them anymore. We certainly don't feel they are in any danger."

Bellamy, named interim chief after Wray's resignation, said Wednesday night that he had not yet seen Wagoner's letter.

The chief said he is concerned others with information that could help police may not come forward for fear that what they say may end up in the media.

A review of the Wray scandal conducted last year by city attorneys and a Raleigh consulting firm documented a three-year investigation in which Special Intelligence, dubbed the "secret police," reopened allegations against Hinson that Internal Affairs had already ruled groundless.

The most serious allegation was that Hinson was criminally involved with Turnbull, the drug kingpin, after Hinson's cell phone number was found in Turnbull's safe.

In an interview from prison with the News & Record last winter, Turnbull said Greensboro police detectives had repeatedly asked him to provide information against Hinson. He claimed his only connection with Hinson was that they were both romantically involved with the same woman, and that Hinson had sold Turnbull a house the officer had been renting to the woman .

According to court records, a number of co-defendants provided "substantial assistance" to federal drug investigators in exchange for reduced sentences. Turnbull's projected release date, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons, is Jan. 27, 2028.

Wagoner, in her letter to Bellamy , said she perceived no "rift" between the agencies. Yet an affidavit filed in the case two weeks ago stated her staff had not granted interviews to the State Bureau of Investigation. The SBI is investigating the Wray matter to determine whether any crimes were committed.

Wagoner wrote that on the advice of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, her staff had invited the SBI to submit questions in writing but had yet to hear back.

One aspect of the Wray investigation that allegedly involved Wagoner's staff was the brief presence of her chief criminal prosecutor during a Special Intelligence interrogation of a Greensboro woman.

Contact Eric J.S. Townsend at 373-7008 or etownsend@news-record.com

Contact Lorraine Ahearn at 373-7334 or lahearn@news-record.com