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GREENSBORO - A year after he resigned under pressure, former Greensboro police Chief David Wray is expected to be questioned this week by the SBI, signaling that an eight-month criminal probe of the department is almost over.

And in another sign that the case is near resolution, the city will not seek additional delays in handing over documents in the two lawsuits filed in the matter so far. The current stay is set to expire Monday.

"We don't have any grounds for (a judge's stay) anymore," said Martin Erwin, one of the attorneys hired to defend the city. "The SBI is almost finished."

A spokeswoman for the State Bureau of Investigation would say only that the probe remains "active." The former sergeant over Wray's now-defunct Special Intelligence unit, Tom Fox, was questioned Thursday, his lawyer confirmed.

"It will be up to the attorney general whether criminal charges are filed," defense attorney Joel Oakley said. "I am very confident that at no point did they indicate there would be charges against Tom Fox."

Fox is one of two officers to be suspended in the wake of allegations that led to Wray's departure along with the abrupt retirement of two close advisers.

Those actions came amid allegations that the Special Intelligence unit used unethical means to target black officers and that Wray used intimidation to silence critics in the department. The unit was officially assigned to track gangs and organized hate groups, but under Wray it played an increasing role in investigating suspected internal corruption.

Wray, through his attorney, Locke Clifford, last week declined interview requests by the News & Record until after the SBI's probe is over "and David Wray has been cleared."

City leaders are clearly anxious for a conclusion to the investigation , which has prevented officials from commenting on the ongoing controversy fueled by a series of stories in a local weekly publication, The Rhinoceros Times.

"The (City) Council has the ability, at my request, to open the door on some of this," City Manager Mitchell Johnson said. "The overriding thing that has kept us from doing that is a personal commitment I made to (special prosecutor) Jim Coman that I would not do anything that might interfere with his investigation."

Though the controversy cast a haze of public suspicion over many of the department's 526 officers, Johnson, in an interview last week, expressed relief that the actions under SBI investigation focused only on a limited chain of "five or six" officers.

Meanwhile, after two deadline extensions, the search for a new police chief entered its second stage last week as the city stopped taking applications. Officials reported that 63 applicants submitted their names for consideration.

Johnson hopes to make a final offer in early April.

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

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