The Alamance County sheriff’s office and sheriff Terry Johnson are being accused of discriminatory employment practices in a federal lawsuit that may be headed to a trial after the two sides failed to resolve the dispute during a settlement conference.
The lawsuit was filed late last year in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina in Greensboro by Earl Alston, who has been employed with the sheriff’s office since March 2015. He remains employed with the sheriff’s office as an investigator, according to his suit and Alamance County government personnel information.
In his suit, Alston, who is black, alleges that he has been passed over for promotions, discriminated against, and subjected to unsafe working conditions because of his race. To support his claim, Alston asserts that, as of April 2023, the sheriff’s office employed 152 sworn deputies, nine whom were black (approximately 5 percent); and of the 93 detention officers at the alamance County jail, 29 were black (31 percent).
A paragraph within the complaint states that two other individuals are plaintiffs, Latasha Mebane and Jaleesa Alston, but neither is listed as a party in the “caption” (i.e., the title of the action and parties) on any pleading filed in connection with the lawsuit, which is noted in the response filed by the attorneys for the defendants.
“[The] defendants are unaware of Latasha Mebane or Jalessa Alston being named as plaintiffs in this matter, and any allegations related to those two individuals are denied,” the defendants assert in their response. “…To the extent the allegations in this paragraph contradict the public record, they are denied.”
Neither Jaleesa Alston nor Latasha Mebane was employed with the sheriff’s office as of last year, based on the latest personnel information and salaries that Alamance County government officials furnished to The Alamance News in 2025.
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In his suit, Earl Alston alleges that he was denied promotions and treated differently from his white counterparts “despite possessing superior training, experience, and qualifications.” He claims that other black employees at the sheriff’s office “have disclosed similar experiences of racism and unfair treatment” but fear speaking out because of their fears about retaliation and termination.
The plaintiff goes on to resurrect years-old allegations about a “documented history of disregard for racial equity and civil rights” within the sheriff’s office, pointing to a string of previous federal suits surrounding an October 2020 protest in downtown Graham. The insurance carriers for Alamance County government and the city of Graham settled the most substantive suit, filed by the protest’s organizer, out-of-court in exchange for monetary damages, with no admission of guilt by any of the defendants.
At the time he filed his suit, Alston had worked in law enforcement for approximately 24 years, starting as a patrol officer with the Mebane police department before transferring to the Hillsborough police department, where he was employed 14 years and held the rank of a patrol sergeant, in addition to serving as an interim lieutenant during a colleague’s “extended training assignment.”
Alston subsequently transferred to the Alamance County sheriff’s office in 2015, where he was initially employed as a patrol deputy before his elevation to a detective’s position in the Major Crimes Division.
Alston alleges that he has been subjected to racially discriminatory conduct during his 10-year tenure with the sheriff’s office, including, “hearing racially offensive statements” from an unnamed deputy around June 2020; and being forced by a supervisor to move into an office contaminated with mold (caused by a leaking toilet in the jail upstairs), “while other investigators were permitted to relocate to safer, cleaner, and more spacious offices.”
At some point, Alston had been moved out of the investigations division and asked to transfer back – and “was willing to accept a demotion from sergeant to corporal,” his suit asserts.
“Instead, he was stripped of his rank and pay, while the corporal position was awarded to a white investigator with less than two years of investigative experience, compared to [Alston’s ] six years,” the lawsuit alleges. He claims that a supervisor discouraged him from applying for promotions told Alston that he “was not who he was looking for.”
Alston further alleges that Jaleesa Alston, whom he identifies as his wife, became so demoralized about “the lack of respect for minority leadership” during her tenure as a lieutenant at the sheriff’s office that she ultimately resigned and vowed never to work in law enforcement again.
Alston is seeking an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages under multiple alleged claims, including: race discrimination in employment contracts, civil rights violations, violations of federal Equal Pay Act, and retaliation. He is being represented by Greensboro attorney Jason L. Keith.
The sheriff and the sheriff’s office filed a response earlier this year, denying any wrongdoing and any liability to the plaintiff. The defendants are being represented by the Cranfill Sumner law firm in Charlotte.
The parties apparently attempted to resolve the dispute in a settlement conference but were unable to reach an agreement, based on a joint discovery plan and motion that Keith filed in federal court in late March. The parties have agreed to complete depositions by July 30, 2026 and to complete discovery in the case by November 2, according to Keith’s motion. He also requested an extension of the deadline to file an amended complaint, according to the court file.
The defendants also filed a motion to dismiss on March 31, and the plaintiff “has been on notice of the grounds for dismissal since that date,” based on a response that the sheriff’s attorneys filed in late April to the plaintiff’s request for extensions of two filing deadlines.
The defendants contend in their response that Alston was a sergeant in the patrol division – and that “his employment history is a matter of public record” – but vigorously deny all of the other allegations of discriminatory treatment.
“[The] plaintiff continues to work for Alamance County and has suffered no adverse action, discriminatory treatment or hostile work environment,” the defendants counter in their response.
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued Alston a right-to-sue letter, an apparent indication that the agency was unwilling to sue the sheriff’s office on his behalf, according to the plaintiff’s suit.
Alston’s base salary as of February 2025 was $65,043.814. His total wages for the 2024 calendar year were $91,480.59, including the value of his benefits package.
