FRANKLIN COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY
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P.O. BOX 909
LOUISBURG, NORTH CAROLINA 27549
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www.FranklinNCGOP.com

August 22, 2007

Foy Files Charges of Assault, Destruction of Property
 

August 22, 2007 The Franklin Times
Harry Foy arrest: 911 call released
By CAREY JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer

Commissioner Harry Foy didn’t make mention of his arrest during a board meeting on Monday night, but by Tuesday, he had sworn out charges against a woman who alleged the former Navy man assaulted her out on the Pamlico Sound.

According to Dare County Sheriff Rodney Midgett, Laurie Boemper, 37, called 911 on last Wednesday night alleging to investigators that Foy assaulted her.

During a more-than-four-minute 911 conversation, Boemper could be heard, nearly the whole time, crying and screaming. Other voices on the phone were inaudible.

The call ended with a hang-up, and 911 officials called the cell phone back. That tape was not immediately accessible but should be in the next few days, officials said.

When the Coast Guard arrived at Foy’s boat about three miles off the coast of Hatteras, they arrested Foy, charging him with domestic assault.

Boemper managed Foy’s marina in Hobucken and the two had a personal relationship, as well as professional, but Foy said that ended the night of the incident.

Boemper and Foy — who is the owner and operator of Foy Mart off Highway 64 at the Nash/Franklin counties’ line — were also charged with possession of less than a half-ounce of marijuana. Two other people on the boat — Foy’s employees — were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

When reached by phone, Boemper said Foy assaulted her and she was battered and bruised.

“He went ballistic,” Boemper said. “I’ve never seen him like that.

“I have bruises all over my body,” she said. “(Foy) has subjected me to mental abuse, but he had never been physical. He kept pushing me down. I did grab his shirt and it ripped.”

Sheriff Midgett said the report did not indicate any bruising, but the Coast Guard and the Sheriff’s Office found enough evidence to charge Foy with domestic assault.

Foy said it was the other way around. He said Boemper assaulted him when she became irate that he would not take her to Hatteras to get something to eat.

He and witnesses on the boat said she had too much to drink.

Foy said he went down to Dare County on Tuesday morning to file charges against Boemper. A magistrate confirmed that Foy swore out papers of assault and destruction of property — his shirt.

“I don’t take an aggressive, using fist-type approach to things,” Foy said Monday night following the commissioner’s board meeting. “I did my best to talk to her to get her off me.”

When the Coast Guard arrived at the 25-foot boat, they talked with everyone and searched the boat, finding the marijuana in a bag.

One of Foy’s employees, Chris Zimmerman, said the drugs were his, but everyone on board received some type of drug charge.

Everyone on board said that Foy did not know the drugs were on the boat.

Everyone did admit to having alcohol on the boat, however, the Coast Guard did not issue any citation for boating under the influence.

Foy also said speculation that there was a large amount of cash on board was true, but that money, including checks and other documentation, came from his marina operation down in Hobucken.

Authorities did not confiscate the money.

Foy and Boemper are likely to appear in Dare County District Court together on Oct. 4.

Commissioners are governed by a code of conduct policy, but nothing in the policy dictates what impact a criminal charge would have on there ability to serve.

The board did not discuss the issue at all on Monday.

Foy said he may discuss it openly in the future.

“I didn’t want to bring something personally before the board during comments,” Foy said. “I don’t know if that’s the place for it.

“But, to my constituents, I may owe them something of a statement,” he said. “I may do that before it’s all over with.”