GREENSBORO, N.C. — Passing from long-time Guilford County Sheriff BJ Barnes to new Sheriff Danny Rogers has not been easy.
Rogers says that's because key papers were destroyed and computers were taken.
"When I came in there were no information on anything. The staff that I had, had to start from ground zero," he said.
According to an internal Guilford County audit 2 Wants To Know obtained, the computers were taken "per standard sheriff's office computer usage practices to be upgraded."
It goes on to say: "Internal Audit found no mal-intent associated with the removal. All information on these computers was and remains secured."
And for those papers that were destroyed, auditors write: "Shredding of documents was a common occurrence. The volume of shredded documents appears to have not significantly increased during the transition per cleaning staff. Outdated annual texts..." like the Sheriff's association old manual "...were disposed of and appear to have caused the initial concern."
The document also says that auditors requested permission to ask Sheriff Roger's administrative staff if vital documents were missing, "but no response to that request has been received."
"The only files that were destroyed were the files that were personal to me," Barnes said.
He adds he did get rid of some ethics forms that had his personal information like his bank account information on it. And some files from his top secret clearance on a federal counter-terrorism task force.
"This is all him making excuses that his administration for the three months he's been there has been a failure," Barnes said. "Don't start telling a lie on me and my administration..."
Rogers also said: "Do I have the proof of that? No. And let me tell you why: because the guy still have friends here. Okay. So anytime you have friends in place, let me make sure I look at the camera, anytime you have friends in place, things are going to be done to make sure they protect the people."
2 Wants To Know reached out to Sheriff Rogers again after getting this audit late tonight. His spokesperson told us: "The audit speaks for itself. Sheriff Rogers thanks BJ Barnes for his service. And he has a lot of respect for BJ Barnes. The issue is that they made the transition as difficult as possible for the new sheriff, and it's become personal."
So where do we go from this?
Rogers' spokesperson also said: "Now our goal is to move forward and work. We don't want this to be a thing we're discussing for the next few months."