Probation head to leave Friday

Friday will be Robert Guy's last day of the state's probation system.

No word yet on who will replace him, Sarah Ovaska reports.

Guy, the director of the state’s probation system since 1997, had been one of the focuses of "Losing Track," an N&O series that ran in December and found, in several cases, probationers had been unwatched, and went on to kill.

The investigation also found that Guy missed several chances to implement technology to help his officers and didn’t respond to years of warnings that in several urban officers the high level of vacancies left remaining staff with unmanageable caseloads.

His retirement won’t be effective until Feb. 1, but he'll be out of his office by the end of the week, he wrote in a letter distributed to community correction staff on Monday.

"The staff of the Division of Community Corrections is the hardest working and most dedicated public servants at any level of government," Guy wrote. "In closing, I love our chosen profession and I will always love and cherish our work together and wish all of you the best!"

More after the jump.

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He made $111,946 a year as director.

Guy, 53, spent his career in community corrections, starting as a street-level probation officer in Eastern North Carolina. He stayed out of the public spotlight until the killings last year of UNC student body president Eve Carson and Duke University graduate student Abhijit Mahato.

The two men charged with killing Carson, one who is also accused of killing Mahato, were on probation at the time of the killings and received scant supervision.

After a press conference held last week by Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue announcing a new correction secretary, her staff said Guy wouldn't be staying on.