Twist in Sedgefield killing: Victim was Narcotics Anonymous Sponsor

Killing of Charlotte Narcotics Anonymous Sponsor raises fears among local sponsors

Friends say man arrested in murder had been sponsored by the victim

By Cleve R. Wootson Jr.
cwootson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Tuesday, Jan -29, 2013-Jan. 31, 2013

 

The man accused of killing Charles Middleton at his south Charlotte home Saturday morning was a man he’d sponsored while involved in a Narcotics Anonymous program years ago, people close to the situation say.

The disclosure has heightened fears about the potential dangers of sponsorship relationships among recovering addicts in the Charlotte area.

 

On Monday, Christopher Paul Huffman was taken into custody in Casa Grande, Ariz., more than 2,000 miles from the scene of the shooting on Elmhurst Road in the Sedgefield neighborhood adjacent to Dilworth.

 

Charlotte-Mecklenburg homicide detectives traveled to Arizona on Monday to interview Huffman, who had no criminal record. Police have not divulged a possible motive in the killing or said whether Middleton’s sponsorship work with Huffman made him a target.

 

But for people involved in 12-step programs, the link spurred wariness and fear.

 

“It is almost a sacred thing. These are people who so freely give of themselves,” said a Narcotics Anonymous member who declined to give his name because the association frowns on speaking to the press. “How do they know that the people who we are trying to help are not going to do us harm?”

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