The director of the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division and the superintendent of dredge and field maintenance were the focus of a raid on state offices by state and federal law enforcement officials Aug. 26.

Superintendent of Dredge and Field Maintenance Bill Moore, who reports directly to Ferry Division Director Jerry Gaskill, has claimed responsibility for illegal dredging that occurred in May in the Currituck Sound near Corolla. But both he and Gaskill said the dredging was accidental. Moore said that he and other employees did not “kick a channel” with the boat’s propellers, but that they were marking the channel.

The search warrants used to conduct the raid were issued by U.S. Magistrate Judge William Webb at the request of a special agent in the Criminal Investigative Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Agents from the State Bureau of Investigation also participated in the raid. Carolina Journal has been unable to confirm the participation of the FBI as previously reported.

The dredging is associated with the establishment of a new passenger service from Corolla to Currituck that was supposed to have been in operation by May 1. NCDOT documents show that dredging at Corolla was necessary and was in the project budget, but NCDOT has yet to apply for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The warrants were returned Wednesday and became available to the public at the federal courthouse in Raleigh. They showed that in addition to searching the division’s central office in Morehead City, officials also searched the division’s shipyard in Manns Harbour, the field Maintenance Office in Havelock, and the three ferry division boats that were involved in the dredging. The warrants also specifically allowed for a search of the state vehicles used by Gaskill and Moore, and any personal or official notes maintained by Gaskill or Moore.

Items seized included work orders, memos, files, notebooks, computer hard drives, a laptop computer, and “documents from Gaskill’s leather portfolio.”

News reports about the dredging surfaced in early July, when Jan DeBlieu, Cape Hatteras coastkeeper with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, issued a press release. The new channel is estimated to be 700 feet in length, 30 feet wide, and 5 to 6 feet deep. Previously the area was 2 feet deep. The N.C. Division of Coastal Management issued NCDOT a violation notice June 28 for dredging without a permit.

Currituck County officials said the ferry service was necessary because students living on the Currituck County section of the Outer Banks would no longer be able to attend Dare County schools because of crowding.

They said the bus ride to the mainland, entirely by land, was too long. With State Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight of Dare County as the driving force, the N.C. General Assembly appropriated $834,000 in June 2003 for the project. Annual operating costs are estimated to be more than $400,000.

Forty students were initially expected to use the ferry, however Currituck school officials now say only 10 students would use it this year.

While the project was touted as necessary for the students, representatives of the Sanderling Inn Resort had an interest in the ferry. They have sought an alternative way to get housekeepers and other workers to the resort. Documents show resort officials had met with Ferry Division officials and approved the route.

After several delays, the new ferry vessel, a 50-foot, 50-passenger pontoon boat with an enclosed cabin, arrived in Dare County last week. CJ was unable to determine when the service would start.

Carrington is associate publisher of Carolina Journal. Read his previous stories on the ferry division here, here, and here.