Report: Lovette's probation officer untrained with 127 cases

RALEIGH (AP) -- The probation officer for a teenager now charged with murder was handling 127 cases even though she hadn't gone through basic training.

State Community Corrections officials released a report Wednesday discussing the probation case of 17-year-old Laurence Lovette of Durham. Lovette and another man are charged in the March
5 killing of University of North Carolina student body president Eve Carson.

Officials said Lovette's probation officer, Chalita Thomas, was working in an atmosphere of constant staff vacancies, case reassignments and a lack of training. Officials said those
conditions led to a variety of deficiencies in probation cases.

Lovette was convicted Jan. 16 of breaking and entering in Durham, but he never met with Thomas. The other murder suspect, 21-year-old Demario Atwater, also was on probation.

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