CMPD Officer Seth Elliott

This one hurts. 

Most of you know Cedar has family that are CMPD Officers. Some retired, some still at it. A dozen close friends, even the family that's not CMPD runs a long line of public safety and law enforcement. This mess includes; a battalion chief in Charleston, Gaston County EMS, a former SBI investigator, two state department employees, a former US Attorney and others that I respect and trust. Public servants sworn to uphold the law and honor our nation, our state and our city. Many I have known a lifetime. During all these years I've never imagined this from a CMPD Officer.

Court documents say CMPD Officer Seth Elliott (CMPD Class 197) looked up an undercover officer's license plate information in Flock and CJ Leads and provided it to the subject of a drug investigation in Watauga County. 

"On June 16, 2026, Defendant, Seth Daniel Elliot, was contacted by a drug target who requested the defendant query a North Carolina License Plate Registration which was affixed to an undercover officer's vehicle. The drug target was a subject of a drug investigation which was initiated by the Watauga County Sheriff's Office. Seth Elliot is a Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Officer. Elliott queried the North Carolina License Plate in Flock Safety, Inc. and CJ Leads. Elliott provided  this information to the drug target."

Apparently an alleged drug dealer was suspicious of a buyer and asked Elliott to run the buyer's plate through the databases. The affidavit says Elliott did so and it came back as an undercover officer and he provided that information to the alleged dealer.

Elliott is on unpaid administrative leave.

This is bad and if true maybe there's a Sonny Crockett who's telling him:

"I can't touch you, I know that, too many obstacles, too many politics. But you're dirty, Seth, and I'm patient."

Additional context from Joe Bruno 

Newly unveiled search warrants shine light in what happened up in Watauga County that led to a CMPD officer's college buddy asking him to look up a plate. The SBI says that officer, Seth Elliott, illegally used Flock and the CJLeads database to carry out the request.

That college buddy was Michael Kuester-- who was under investigation by the Watauga County Sheriff's Office for drugs.

The plate belonged to an undercover officer who was trying to take Kuester down. 

Here's the backstory, as told by search warrants:

Michael Kuester was paranoid. He had just sold mushrooms and a marijuana vape to someone he didn't really know a lot about for the third time. The two met in a Telegram group Kuester was a part of-- SourLeaf Bakery. But Kuester's attempts to learn more about this buyer were unsuccessful. 

Kuester hit up his friend Seth Elliott on Snapchat and asked if he could run the plate of an "unknown person who was hanging around his father's business." Elliott did and provided the info back to Kuester. 

There is no indication that Elliott knew Kuester was selling drugs or looking to out a buyer. 

But it turns out that "buyer" was an undercover officer. 

Kuester confronted the undercover officer by saying he knew his plate was fake, that he knew who the car was registered to and that his car had only been photographed once in the past week. 

That last tidbit tipped off detectives that someone with Flock access provided Kuester with that info. 

The Watauga County Sheriff's Office got a warrant for Flock. Flock looked up records and the records showed Elliott searched the officer's plate on June 16. He confirmed this in an interview with the SBI.

Kuester was arrested on drug charges and Elliott was arrested Wednesday for improper Flock usage.