Another road block for ex-trooper

Former trooper Monty Steven Poarch's path back to the State Highway Patrol continues to get tougher.

In a trial earlier this month, a Buncombe County district judge found him guilty of a misdemeanor assault charge that involved a dispute over a parking space at an Asheville restaurant. The daughter of a Durham assistant district attorney was standing in the space, attempting to hold it for her boyfriend's car, when Poarch slowly drove into the space, forcing her out.

The conviction would jeopardize Poarch's law enforcement certification, which could cost him his current job as a captain with the Caldwell County Sheriff's Department, and put an end to his battle to get back with the patrol, said his attorney, Sean Devereux of Asheville, reports Dan Kane.

Poarch sued to return to the patrol after he was fired in 2003 for having sex with a woman in his patrol cruiser and at a patrol station.

Read more after the jump.

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An administrative judge agreed with Poarch, finding that he was subjected to disparate treatment. Other troopers caught in similar or worse behavior remained on the patrol. The decision made public numerous cases of trooper misconduct over the past decade and created a major embarrassment for the agency.

The patrol and the State Personnel Commission rejected the law judge's finding and Poarch is now trying to win that case in state Superior Court.

But that effort might all be moot if Poarch loses his appeal on the misdemeanor conviction. He has appealed it to state Superior Court. Devereux said a trial has been scheduled for the week of July 20.