Three High-Ranking Deputies Vie to Replace Mahoney
Transylvania County Sheriff David Mahoney's looming retirement has created stiff competition for his job, including this year's only primary for a countywide seat.
BREVARD — The bios of the three Republican candidates for Transylvania County Sheriff look almost like duplicates.
All three of contenders boast that they are Transylvania natives, solid family men and dedicated church members. They are all experienced law enforcement officers who have attained high ranks under — and formed close working relationships with — popular Sheriff David Mahoney, who in November announced he would retire in 2022 after 16 years in office.
But these parallels can be deceiving, say all three candidates, pointing out significant differences in their experiences and plans for the agency that they say leave them best qualified to serve as Sheriff.
Operations Captain Kevin Creasman, 52, is the highest ranking deputy in the race, has the most years on the job, and has worked mostly closely with Mahoney, he said. Lt. Chase Owen, 37, the Office’s chief detective, not only manages the agency’s investigative team and its budget, but does the same for Connestee Fire Rescue, which he serves as volunteer chief.
Lt. Chuck Owenby, 46, who oversees Professional Standards and Training, touts his extensive history of working with community organizations — especially those serving young people — and is the only one of the three candidates with a college degree.
The field was set after the filing deadline for the May 17 primary passed at noon on Friday. The winner will face Democrat William Hemphill, a master trooper with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol. Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Benny Frady, supervisor of security at the Transylvania County Courthouse, is also gathering signatures for a planned campaign as an unaffiliated candidate.
The two open seats for County Commission have drawn two Republican candidates, incumbent Jake Dalton, the Commission's vice chair, and Emmett Casciato, curator and founder of The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas in Brevard. Lauren Wise, an architect and the chair of the Transylvania County Planning Board, has filed as a Democrat.
Two Republicans, Tanya Dalton and Chris Wiener, have filed for the two open seats for the Transylvania County School Board, and will face two Democrats, incumbent Marty Griffin and Robert Paul Cooper, in the November general election, while Clerk of Court Kristi Brown has not drawn a major-party opponent.
Creasman has been with the Sheriff’s Office for nearly 30 years, according to his campaign’s Facebook page. He started as a patrol deputy, he said, and has worked at administrative-level positions for 25 years. His current job, which he has held for 16 years, requires him to oversee both patrol and investigations.
“I’ve pretty much been running the operations part, day in and day out, for the Sheriff’s Office for the past 16 years,” he said.
Though he does not have a college degree, he said, he has received extensive training in multiple aspects of law enforcement and has a long record of providing such training in the agency, working as a “General Instructor, Firearms Instructor (and) . . . Field Training Officer,” according to his campaign biography.
Owenby also has a long history with the Sheriff’s Office and as a trainer of his colleagues, according to his campaign website
In his 19 years with the agency, he has served as, among other positions, a patrol sergeant and assistant team leader on the Special Response Team. In his current job, which he’s held since 2017, his campaign announcement said, “he is responsible for all in-service training, internal affairs and background checks for new hires for the department.”
But Owenby, a longtime assistant baseball coach at Brevard High School, said his career has also been distinguished by his work outside of the agency, with groups including Smart Start of Transylvania, the Cindy Platt Boys & Girls Club of Transylvania County, and the Transylvania County Community Relations Board.
One of his main goals if elected is to build on these ties, he said. “That’s one of my big, big issues — I want more and more community involvement.”
The Sheriff’s Office currently runs a community advisory board. He would expand it to more areas and request that members meet more regularly with deputies who, he said, “can talk to them, ask them ‘What are you seeing in your community and what can we do to make it better?’ ”
Owenby would also like to enlist school faculty to help make School Resource Officers (SROs) aware of potential trouble spots. He envisions, for example, SROs at high schools instructing teachers on the signs of drug abuse, such as absenteeism or declining grades, and encouraging these faculty members to report back when they see these signs in students.
Another form of youth outreach he advocates: the expansion of the Office’s SHIELD Camp, a summer program that exposes middle school students to outdoor activities and provides life and leadership skills.
The program has boasted big successes, he said, including with one of its first campers, who is now embarking on a law enforcement career, Owenby said. He’d like to see this happen more.
“You hear that old saying that if you can save one kid, you’ve done your job,” he said. “Well, I don’t want to save one kid. I want to save them all.”
Owen will also seek closer community ties, he said, and like Owenby he sees it as crucial to allowing improved coverage of a large county with relatively few patrol officers.
The agency now divides the county into three patrol zones, he said. He would increase this to four, and assign a deputy to serve as a liaison for each one.
“I want each area to know a face of somebody that (residents) can call, someone who will go to community meetings, someone who will be there for them,” he said.
He said this is an example of specifics in a 10-year plan he wrote, a document that includes benchmarks for achievements after every two-year increment of that period.
“I have very extensive goals and plans for this agency,” he said.
Some elements of this plan also seek to address one of the root causes of crime in the county — drug abuse. Yes, he said, working to expand treatment for addicts is important. But he also wants to beef up efforts to identify and stop illegal drug activity.
Whether this means conducting reverse sting operations “or stopping cars leaving a (likely drug) house when there is reasonable suspicion, the emphasis has to be on getting our dealers off the street as quickly and effectively as possible,” he said.
When this happens, he said, the Office should let the public know about it, which is part of the call for greater transparency included on his campaign website.
“If you want to sell drugs in our county, I want to make you famous,” he said. “I want people to know that we’re out here doing our jobs.”
Though he doesn’t currently have a college education, he is pursuing an online college degree in law enforcement administration. And though he has fewer years of experience than his opponents, he said, it is especially applicable to executing his plan for the agency and managing its $9 million annual budget.
He has done the same for budgets in the 13-member investigative arm of the Sheriff’s Office and at the fire department, where he is also responsible for a range of duties such as incident mitigation and personnel management.
His current job is not classified as an administrative position, he said, “but my experience is unparalleled in the agency.”
How old is Creasman? Nothing on his web page. Other two sheriffs ages listed.
Will you write up a detailed bio for the other candidates for sheriff as you have for Owen and Owenby?