Feeling the Burn of a Sting

"It was special," Moon said.

He would score 41 points that night. Less than a month later, he hung 34 on Northwood to go over 3,000 in his career. On Jan. 19, he poured in 65 against Western Alamance. He was a machine.

Through it all, he talked about team success. On the night Curry broke the record, Moon told reporters Curry wouldn't have been happy had the performance come in a loss. On Feb. 3, when he scored 47 against Graham, he told the Times-News of Burlington simply, "We tried to come out with the same game plan and play hard on defense."

At that moment, law enforcement officials were printing those 50 arrest warrants. They would be signed by a magistrate beginning at 4 the following morning.

The Fallout

Johnson, the county sheriff, speaks proudly of "Operation Safe Schools." He tells stories of his undercover officers sitting down in class for the first time, and being offered dope immediately. After that first day of arrests, 10 more students were apprehended, bringing the total to 60. District Attorney Robert Johnson said just two cases went to trial. One was found guilty. One was found not guilty. The remaining 58 cut pre-trial deals, pleading guilty.

Law enforcement officials cite those numbers as evidence that their cases were air-tight. Dawn Allen, Curry's attorney, said that "juries are unpredictable" and that her client chose the route that involved the least chance of jail time.

"It's just comes down to: Do you want to roll the dice?" Allen said.

Indeed, Curry's case seems muddled. Johnson will tell you, in one breath, "From what we hear, JamesOn Curry's a good kid." In another, he'll say, "I don't have long to live, but I'd bet my life this wasn't the first time he sold drugs."

Last fall, J.R. Hughes, an undercover officer from Cumberland County, more than 100 miles away, enrolled at Eastern Alamance under the name Kevin. He had three classes with Curry, as well as lunch. He saw him in the weight room. He told him things about his personal life. He got close to the school's star.

"The guy kept bugging him and bugging him," Leon Curry said. "And unfortunately, JamesOn knew some people that sold marijuana. [In this case], he was the go-between guy. He would get it from the people, and he would take it to the school and take the money.

"It was wrong. There's no question it was wrong. But if you see a kid with so much potential, why in the hell would you approach him? Where was your motive? I do not understand it."

Hughes, reached earlier this month, declined to comment on the intricacies of the investigation.

Two days after his plea resulted in 36 months of probation and some community service, North Carolina Coach Roy Williams, Doherty's replacement, rescinded his scholarship offer, saying "he is a nice young man, but one who made some very serious mistakes." The Currys say they have no ill will.

But even now, as the Currys concentrate on what's ahead, they wonder about how the sting was handled. They wonder about what they say is a disproportionate number of African-American students who were arrested.