A Wake County sheriff's deputy has been fired and arrested by his own office, accused of using law-enforcement databases to look up active felony warrants and tip off the very suspects those warrants were issued for. Anthony Garcia, 29, was arrested without incident on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at the John H. Baker Jr. Public Safety Center in Raleigh, the Wake County Sheriff's Office announced.

Source: WPTF News (Raleigh), reporting the Wake County Sheriff's Office announcement, Nov. 6, 2026

Garcia is charged with one count of obstruction of justice and one count of accessing government computers for fraud. The charges are allegations set out in court documents; he has not been convicted of anything and is presumed innocent unless and until he is proven guilty in court. He was due to appear in court on Friday, November 6, WRAL News reported.

What investigators say he did

According to the Sheriff's Office, the case began when investigators received information alleging that a deputy had improperly used government property. In court documents, the office says Garcia used law-enforcement databases on government computers to find active felony warrants and then warned suspects about them. WRAL News, which first reported the arrest, said Garcia allegedly tipped off suspects he knew had felony warrants outstanding against them.

A warrant tip-off is one of the most damaging things an insider can do to an investigation, officers say in cases of this kind: a suspect who knows a felony warrant is active can flee, hide, change vehicles and phones, or destroy evidence before deputies arrive to make the arrest. That is why database access inside a sheriff's office is logged and restricted to official business — every search is supposed to serve an active law-enforcement purpose.

The sheriff's response

Sheriff Willie Rowe said his office moved as soon as the allegation surfaced. “Once we were made aware of these allegations, we took immediate action and launched an investigation. As law enforcement officers we are entrusted with tools and information to be used to serve and safeguard our community. These resources are not for any other purpose, and we will not tolerate any conduct that compromises the trust placed in us or the integrity of this office,” Rowe said. “Our office remains focused on serving Wake County with professionalism, integrity, and the highest ethical standards.”

Garcia had served with the office for just over six years, having been hired in August 2020. The Sheriff's Office said he was terminated from his position. The announcement did not name the suspects Garcia is accused of warning, did not say how many warrants were involved, and did not release bond or custody details — those facts are expected to come out as the court file develops.

Why this matters beyond one deputy

Wake County is North Carolina's capital county — Raleigh is the state capital — and its Sheriff's Office polices the unincorporated parts of one of the fastest-growing counties in the United States, runs the county detention system and serves the warrants its deputies are sworn to enforce. A case in which the warrant system itself is allegedly turned against the office strikes at the basic promise residents rely on: that a warrant means officers are coming, not that a warning is.

Garcia's arrest is also the second case in the US Southeast in the same week in which a deputy was accused of misusing a law-enforcement database for personal reasons. In Pinellas County, Florida, a sheriff's deputy was arrested on Thursday, November 5, after Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he had searched a licence-plate camera database more than 100 times to track his estranged wife and her boyfriend. The two cases are unrelated, but together they show why agencies across the region are auditing who touches their databases, and how often.

What happens next

Garcia's case now moves into the Wake County court system, starting with the first appearance reported for Friday, November 6. Prosecutors will have to prove the two counts — obstruction of justice and accessing government computers for fraud — from the court documents and database records the Sheriff's Office says it gathered during its internal investigation. Whether more charges or more arrests follow will depend on whether investigators identify the suspects he is accused of warning and what those suspects did with the warning. The Sheriff's Office has said the investigation that produced the arrest began with a tip about misuse of government property, and it has not announced that the inquiry is closed.