CHARLOTTE, N.C. — WCCB receiving comments, saying former Stanly County School Board Chair Jeff Chance was lying about receiving death threats.
Chance told the Stanly News and Press that he decided to step down following a contentious school board meeting.
At the meeting, the board voted to continue the mask mandate in schools.
Chance also told the newspaper that he’d been thinking about resigning for the past few months, and said his life had been threatened.
After our report aired, several viewers contacted us and suggested Chance was lying about his life being threatened.
WCCB contacted those viewers and asked for more information about their suggestions.
One woman said “We were told at the direction of legal counsel for our group, we have been instructed not to give any media interviews at this time.”
Another Stanly County man who wrote to us in part, “there are DOZENS of parents who would gladly speak with you, including myself, on the record.”
He then refused our interview request.
WCCB’s Alexandra Elich then went to Chance’s home Thursday to ask him for more details about the alleged death threats.
Elich knocked on his door, and although he didn’t want his face on camera, he said this:
“It was an anonymous threats. I spoke to a private security consultant who said if you don’t have a name or place to go to look for someone, probably not worth doing anything.”
Elich also spoke to Stanly County Sheriff Jeff Crisco over the phone.
He confirmed Chance did not report the threat.
Elich asked Crisco if he thought Chance was lying and he said no.
Sheriff Jeff Crisco said “What he told me came from either, you know, a second or third party. I don’t know. The threat did not come, he did not receive the threat himself, he was told of a threat.”
WCCB reached out to the Albemarle Police Department to see if Chance reported the threats to them.
The chief told us “If there were any threats against elected leaders, I would be made aware.”