HEADLINE:  Jury Weighs Rape Case of Ex-Belen Officer

The fate of a former Belen police sergeant charged with 10 counts of rape is in the hands of a jury. Closing arguments in the trial of Gilbert Zamora were heard Tuesday afternoon, and the jury deliberated for 2 1/2 hours.  Deliberations continue at 9 a.m. today. 

Zamora, 36, was indicted on 10 counts each of rape and kidnapping and one count of criminal sexual contact. The alleged assaults between February 1996 and May 1999 involved a former Belen Police Department secretary, an indictment says.  Earlier, the woman testified that Zamora raped her in his office, in the evidence room and at his home. 

In closing arguments, Zamora's attorney, Hank Farrah, said Zamora admitted to sexually harassing her. "And he's paid for it," he said. Zamora lost his job, spent a fortune on legal fees and has been under a great deal of stress related to this trial, Farrah said. 

He said the secretary was paid $425,000 from Belen's insurance carrier for the sexual harassment.  Despite that, the prosecution didn't prove its case, he said. "Gilbert Zamora is a flirt and he might be a little bit coarse, in fact, he is a little bit coarse, but that doesn't make him a rapist and a kidnapper," Farrah said.  Claire Harwell of the Attorney General's Office said the case wasn't about the secretary making money off her rape claim. 

"If this was about money, that was over last year in April, and she's still here," Harwell said. "This is about the fact that there are no rules that apply to Gilbert Zamora." 

HEADLINE:  Police predict drug arrests

PITTSBORO -- Investigators say they expect to arrest as many 10 suspects in the next two weeks in last year's theft of about 2,000 pounds of marijuana from the old Chatham County 
landfill. 

The FBI is concluding its investigation into that part of a highly publicized, 6-month-old case, Chris Swecker, special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte Division, said Tuesday during a news conference. All the suspects are local, he said, declining to give any more information. 
Meanwhile, the FBI is offering a $ 40,000 reward for information that identifies and leads to the prosecution of those involved in a related case: the theft of about 3,000 pounds of marijuana from a 2 1/2-ton Army surplus truck parked behind the sheriff's department. 

In an undercover sting Feb. 8, 2000, a Chatham County narcotics team seized 4,840 pounds of marijuana from a barn three miles southwest of Siler City. Deputies stored the bundles in the truck -- the only place big enough to hold the evidence, said Sheriff Ike Gray, who was appointed after an ailing Don Whitt retired in November. 

On Sept. 28, more than seven months after confiscating the marijuana, worth $ 5 million, Deputy Randy Keck and two narcotics officers drove the truck to the landfill to bury the drugs. Once there, the deputies noticed that three-fifths of the marijuana was missing. The truck's side window had a sliding metal cover over wire mesh, which had been cut. 

Keck returned to the sheriff's department and called the FBI to report the theft, Gray said. Later that day, Keck returned to the landfill and buried the remaining marijuana. Weeks later, officials noticed that the buried marijuana also had been stolen. Since then, Gray has rewritten official policies so that deputies destroy marijuana by burning it. 

In March, the FBI announced that it had recovered part of the marijuana stolen from the landfill. Swecker said he does not suspect Chatham deputies in that theft. 

In the past six months, four to 16 FBI agents have been in Pittsboro working on both cases, Swecker said. Agents already have given polygraph tests to Gray and 11 of his deputies. About 10 agents are there this week to finish interviewing employees and conduct more lie detector tests. 

The investigation into the marijuana missing from the Army truck does not focus solely on employees, Swecker said. "Where the truck was parked, virtually anyone could've had access," he said. "It wasn't any secret because it was widely reported. We've been getting calls from all over the state, actually." 

It is routine for FBI agents to conduct polygraph examinations on the department employees because they had access to the marijuana, Swecker said. The results of those tests will be 
reviewed by FBI officials in Washington, D.C. 

Swecker stressed that the sheriff and his staff have been extremely cooperative. After taking office in December, Gray asked the FBI for a full-scale investigation. "He has set the tone, and it's been good," Swecker said. "Not everybody would like the FBI trampling in their back yard, and Sheriff Gray has asked us to." 

Gray, who volunteered for a polygraph test June 5, said he hopes to restore confidence in his organization. "Our office has taken a lot of ridicule," he said. "We want 100 percent cooperation [from deputies] to vindicate this department." 

The FBI has numerous leads in these investigations, Swecker said. News of the missing marijuana, it seems, has heightened drug awareness in the Triangle. Agents have received calls about "every small marijuana transaction." We actually have an overload of evidence in this case," Swecker said. "We're spending a lot of resources chasing a lot of leads right now. What we're looking for is someone with a little more specific information." 

HEADLINE: FBI, Chatham expand search for marijuana Up to $40,000 offered for specific information 

PITTSBORO - The FBI is offering a $ 40,000 reward for specific information leading to the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for two thefts totaling nearly 5,000 pounds of marijuana from the Chatham County Sheriff's Department. "We want individuals with specific knowledge to come forth," said Chris Swecker, special agent of the Charlotte division of the FBI. "We actually have an overload of information on this case." 

But much of the information has been general information based on innuendo and rumor, he said.  "We have pursued a number of leads," he said. "We have some very promising ones." However, Swecker declined to elaborate, saying the investigation is ongoing. 

The FBI has been investigating the two thefts since January. The Chatham County Sheriff's Department, in its largest drug bust, confiscated the nearly 5,000 pounds of marijuana from a home in Siler City in February 2000. The marijuana apparently came from Mexico to North Carolina through Texas, Swecker said. The Chatham County Sheriff's Department placed the seized marijuana in the back of an armored 21/2-ton truck that was parked behind the department. "The marijuana was stored in the truck because of storage problems," Sheriff Ike Gray said. 

Gray said the evidence room could not accommodate the 20- to 40-pound bundles of marijuana, which had an estimated street value of half a million dollars, so in September, Sheriff's Department officials drove the truck full of marijuana to the county's landfill. When they opened the back of the truck, they saw that about 3,000 pounds of the marijuana was missing. 
After notifying the Sheriff's Department about the missing marijuana, they buried the remaining marijuana - about 2,000 pounds - in a pit at the landfill. Several weeks later, it was discovered that the buried marijuana had been stolen from the landfill. Gray said the procedure for seized marijuana is now to burn it. 

The FBI has found no evidence connecting the two thefts, Swecker said, saying that the agency also has more information about the theft from the landfill than the theft from the truck. 
"With the truck in the parking lot, virtually anyone could have had access," Swecker said. 
A side window of the truck was broken, and the padlock on the back of the truck was left intact, he said. However, he said, the FBI has "subjects involved in the landfill theft." 
"There were five to 10 people involved with burying the marijuana," he said. 

While the FBI has been investigating the Sheriff's Department, it also has been looking elsewhere, he said, saying the early focus on the Sheriff's Department was based on the logical sequence of the investigation. "It's very normal to start with the agency that's missing the drugs," Swecker said. "We always start the investigation with those who have had access to the drugs. We're not just looking at the Sheriff's Department." 

Swecker said the department has been helpful in the investigation, granting about a dozen interviews. He also said Gray voluntarily took a polygraph test. "He has set the tone, and that's good," Swecker said. "We were asked into this investigation. [Sheriff Gray] has called me just about every week to see how things are going. Not everyone wants the FBI tramping in their back yard, but Sheriff Gray invited us." The Sheriff's Department has been criticized for the thefts of the marijuana, and one county commissioner, Rick Givens, has said he was considering running for sheriff. 

"Our department has been under scrutiny since this thing started," Gray said. "Some employees have been ridiculed as a result of the missing marijuana. "My approach is to get the confidence back in this department. We want 100 percent cooperation to vindicate this department." 

HEADLINE: FBI OFFERS REWARD FOR MISSING POT; ONLY PART OF THE NEARLY 5,000 POUNDS OF STOLEN EVIDENCE HAS BEEN RECOVERED. 

DATELINE: PITTSBORO 

After a six-month investigation into the disappearance of nearly 5,000 pounds of marijuana from the Chatham County Sheriff's Office, the FBI is offering a reward of up to $ 40,000 for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of anyone responsible for the missing drug. 

Agents are looking for specific information about the marijuana taken from a truck where it was stored at the sheriff's department, according to Chris Swecker, special agent in charge of the Charlotte Division of the FBI. Swecker announced the reward Tuesday at a news conference in Pittsboro. 

The 4,840 pounds of missing marijuana was seized during a drug raid in Siler City on Feb. 8, 2000.  The confiscated marijuana was stored in an Army surplus truck in the sheriff's office parking lot because of a lack of storage space. 

The doors to the back of the truck were locked, but access could be gained through a sliding window in the side of the truck that had no lock.  Swecker said the lock on the truck door had not been tampered with. 

Deputies discovered a large part of the marijuana was missing when they drove the truck to the Chatham County Landfill in September 2000 to bury it. After notifying officials of the missing portion, the deputies buried the remaining marijuana in a pit at the landfill. 

Several weeks later it was discovered that the marijuana, which came from Mexico into the country through Texas, had been unearthed and taken from the landfill. After former Sheriff Don Whitt left office and Ike Gray became sheriff in December 2000, Gray asked the FBI to conduct an independent investigation. 

Swecker said the bureau is a couple of weeks away from presenting a case for prosecution regarding the marijuana stolen from the landfill.  He said there are five to 10 suspects, all N.C. residents. Swecker was prepared to present a case a month ago, but he said new information caused a delay.  ''We're hoping to get at least some of the marijuana (stolen from the truck) back,'' Swecker said. ''We've already recovered some of the landfill marijuana.'' 

Although burying confiscated marijuana is an authorized means of disposal, Swecker said ''it's not optimum.'' Gray is changing the department's policy so that all confiscated marijuana is burned. Swecker said his department has fielded several calls about the sale of marijuana, but not many strong leads about the truck. 

''Where the truck was parked, virtually anyone had access,'' Swecker said.  There were 10 agents at the sheriff's office Tuesday, and they plan to return today to follow leads and conduct interviews within the department.  Gray and several deputies have taken polygraph tests, Swecker said, and have cooperated with the investigation.  ''There is no evidence at this point linking the sheriff department to the landfill dig,'' he said. Gray said they have not yet interviewed the former sheriff. 

''Our department has been under scrutiny since this thing has happened. A lot of people have ridiculed our officers,'' Gray said.  Swecker said two or three agents will continue to work on the case until it is solved. 

Contact Annette Barr at 625-8452, Ext. 228 or abarr@news-record.com 

HEADLINE:  FBI: Arrests near in Chatham pot heist 

But no Chatham County Sheriff's Department employees are suspects in the theft from the landfill, he said. 

The theft was one of two thefts of a total of about 5,000 pounds of marijuana that the Sheriff's Department seized from a Siler City home in February 2000, its largest drug bust to date. 
Because of a lack of storage space in its evidence room, the department stored the marijuana in the back of a truck that was parked at the department. After transporting the marijuana to the landfill for burial in September, officers discovered that 3,000 pounds of the marijuana was missing. 

They buried the remaining 2,000 pounds, but several weeks later, it was discovered that a portion of the buried marijuana was stolen. About 1,300 to 1,400 pounds of the marijuana stolen from the landfill was recovered in March, Swecker said. "We have some very solid suspects," he said of the landfill case. "We have four or five that we are going to turn over to the Attorney General's Office. The only question is if we will get two or three more." 

The theft of 3,000 pounds of marijuana from the back of the transfer truck has not been linked to the theft from the landfill, he said. "There is no evidence linking the two thefts to the same people or group of people," Swecker said. 

The FBI still is seeking leads in the theft from the truck. About 10 agents were in Pittsboro on Wednesday to interview Sheriff's Department employees about the stolen marijuana. On Tuesday, the FBI offered a $ 40,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of individuals responsible for the thefts of marijuana. 

"We have not gotten a whole lot of calls - not as many as expected," Swecker said. 

HEADLINE: Van Buren jail trusties exploiting privileges 

BYLINE: ADAM WELSH, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

CLINTON -- A Van Buren County jail trusty confessed Friday morning to breaking into an evidence storage shed behind the jail and taking small amounts of marijuana, some of which he smoked in nearby woods, investigators said.

The break-in has exposed how trusties abuse lax supervision, and authorities fear several criminal cases have been compromised.

Early this week, Travis Tacker removed the screws in the back of a tin shed, which contained evidence from the sheriff's office and Arkansas State Police cases, and bent the thin sheet of metal back so he could crawl inside, according to state police.

State police were notified Wednesday morning. 

It is still unclear whether any criminal cases have been compromised. Evidence had been taken from bags and moved from one bag to another, state police investigator Ken Whillock said.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Stephen James said he is waiting for the results of the investigation. "It could end in the dismissal of some important cases," he said.

All the inmates are on lockdown "except for my mechanics, my janitorial crews and my maintenance guy," said Van Buren County Sheriff Russell Pridgen.

"The first three letters in 'convict' are 'con,' " Pridgen said. "These are bad people, and bad things happen with bad people."

The investigation has shed light on other problems at the jail, Pridgen said:

Van Buren County trusties, who work unsupervised outside, had an air-conditioned room behind the jail where they could watch television, heat food in a microwave, lie down on one of two green mats and smoke a cigarette.

A bed and beer cans were found in nearby woods. An inmate claims he used the bed to have sex with his wife.

Inmates ordered car parts for the sheriff's office, and at least one inmate included a parts order for his own vehicle and put it on the county tab.

Cans of ether were ordered and may have been used to start the diesel engines in some of the sheriff's office's old Ford Broncos -- no one is sure. Ether also can be used in making methamphetamine.

Pridgen blames part of the problem on a tight budget that forces him to rely on inmate labor but doesn't provide him enough money to watch the inmates while they work. Of the sheriff's office's $796,277 budget, the jail budget was cut $2,239 from last year. The 52-bed jail usually holds 30 to 40 inmates.

"I don't have the budget to have the inmates supervised 24 hours a day," Pridgen said.

"I've got Kenny out working on a car and Skip doing laundry," he said of two of his trusties. "I don't have trusties out picking up trash, but as far as the mechanics, washing and laundry and cleaning, I have to have them or the whole place will shut down. I'd have to be out there doing laundry myself."

This is not the first time in Pridgen's six months in office that the jail has been a source of controversy.

A mass breakout planned for April 1 was only narrowly foiled.

Jailer P.K. Blevins was dismissed in March and charged with providing inmates alcohol.

A drunken Act 309 inmate stole a patrol car in the same incident and crashed it. Act 309 inmates are Arkansas Department of Correction prisoners housed at county jails and used as laborers by the county.

Pridgen said things look worse than they are. "This is a play for dirty politics," he said in response to a reporter's queries about the break-in.

The sheriff said he had long feared for the safety of the Arkansas State Police evidence, even when it was housed in a small building behind the county jail.

Inmate laborers went in and out of the building to retrieve files and to get to the sheriff's office stockpile of
tires. They walked past open bags of marijuana, Pridgen said.

A hungry rat had scattered marijuana all over the floor.

So one day last week, Pridgen said, he moved the drugs, pipes and other evidence into a tin shed with double locks on the doors.

The evidence disappeared from the new shed, but Pridgen said \b drug thefts \b0 had been going on since before the evidence was moved to the new building.

He acknowledges inmates appear to have taken advantage of him in other areas.

Pridgen let the trusty inmates, who work outside without supervision, have a storage room and an old air conditioner.

The room has two mats laid out as sleeping pallets, a small television, a videocassette recorder, a refrigerator stocked with food and two microwaves. Videos ranging from The Dukes of Hazard to Rocky II and Rocky III lie on a small television stand.

"It snuck up on me," Pridgen said of the room.

Pridgen now questions letting trusties order car parts for the sheriff's office.

"I start getting an influx of bills," Pridgen said.

"I start thinking, 'My cars ain't that bad!' "

One inmate admitted to ordering a part for his personal truck and now will be paying for the part himself, Pridgen said.

Pridgen said he is learning how much ether was ordered by trusties and what it was used for.

When called for comment, two Van Buren County justices of the peace said they had heard nothing of the theft or the other irregularities at the jail.

"There's so many things going on out there it's hard to keep track," said Justice of the Peace Ernie Atkins. "[The sheriff] has asked us to go out there. I guess we're going to have to go take a look."

HEADLINE: NYPD launches probe of alleged cover-ups by Internal Affairs 

DATELINE: NEW YORK 

The NYPD's second-in-command has been assigned to head an investigation of allegations that the department's Internal Affairs Bureau has ignored - and even covered up - corruption on the force. 

Mayor Rudolph Giuliani told reporters on Thursday that First Deputy Commissioner Joseph Dunne would oversee a team of police investigators who are independent of Internal Affairs. 

The move came in response to news this week that an undercover Internal Affairs detective, Jimmy Alvarez, had filed a federal lawsuit alleging his supervisors routinely ignored widespread theft and other misconduct by officers. 

"I think at this point, nobody should jump to any conclusion," Giuliani said. 

The Police Department, in a statement, has dismissed Alvarez's allegations as "vague and frivolous" and "suspiciously self-serving." 

But on Thursday, City Council Speaker Peter Vallone called the claims "extremely troubling." He announced he would hold hearings on the case. 

In Washington, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-Manhattan, cited the case while calling on the Justice Department to revive its own investigation into alleged civil rights abuses by the nation's largest police department. 

The suit accuses the Police Department of violating Alvarez's rights and of discriminating against him because he is Hispanic. It seeks unspecified damages. 

Alvarez, 42, who joined Internal Affairs in 1993, claimed that while working undercover, he learned that officers were stealing cash from \b evidence lockers \b0 in Queens. He alleged that his superiors told him the money was being used for lunch, "and that it was not the type of corruption they were interested in." 

In another case, the plaintiff claimed, a supervisor came to his home and threatened him. In another, he allegedly was ordered to destroy records. 

HEADLINE: Evidence on trial in rape case 

DATELINE: NEW PORT RICHEY

New Port Richey police spent several hours Sept. 10, 1998, combing over a house where, according to prosecutors, a knife-wielding intruder with a towel wrapped bandana-style around his head raped a woman for three hours while her two young daughters slept. Police interviewed the 45-year-old victim at length, dusted for fingerprints, took pictures and collected sheets and pillowcases from the woman's bed.

But it wasn't until 12 days later that authorities obtained the knife allegedly used by the attacker. And that's only because the victim found the knife wedged between the bed and the wall and called police. 

"We missed it,” New Port Richey Police Capt. Darryl Garman acknowledged on Thursday.
There's more: A videotaped interview with Masters, on which he denied any involvement in the crime but consented to have his blood drawn, was lost by New Port Richey Detective Howard Snyder. Also lost were some pictures of Masters' legs that Snyder, the lead detective on the case, thought might be important in the case.

Then, fully a year later, the victim turned over to police the white towel she said was used in the attack. Apparently, nobody had ever asked her for it, even though she told Snyder, hours after the incident, that the attacker had used it to disguise his face at first, then ordered her to put the towel over her head as he raped her. By the time it was turned over, the towel had been washed, so all forensic value it might have held was lost.

"Your mishandling of this evidence could be detrimental in this case,” New Port Richey Cpl. Jackie Pehote, who supervises the agency's detective bureau, wrote in a reprimand that was placed in Snyder's personnel file.

Indeed, at Masters’ trial this week in a New Port Richey courtroom, public defender Clementine Conde has repeatedly hammered away at the questionable police work in the case to raise doubts about her client's guilt.

Masters, 23, is charged with sexual battery, armed burglary and kidnapping. He faces life in prison if convicted.

The case is expected to go to the jury today.

Conde suggested in her opening statement that the victim, given the delay in the knife and towel coming to light, might have concocted the rape story.

Despite the problems with the police investigation, prosecutorshave solid evidence, both forensic and circumstantial, linking Masters to the crime.

DNA from his blood matched semen taken from the victim, a lab analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement testified Thursday.

And hours after the attack, Masters, who had once cleaned the victim's pool, packed up all his belongings and boarded a Greyhound bus bound for his hometown of Davenport, Iowa, where he was eventually arrested.

But on Thursday, the trial's focus turned squarely on Snyder and James Johnson, the Police Department's crime scene technician.

Snyder admitted on the stand that he misplaced the videotape of Masters' interview.

"I lost the tape off my desk, he said. He explained that he forgot to put it in the evidence locker, got called out to another assignment, and when he returned to his desk, he couldn't find it.
Asked by Conde why he didn't find the knife or the towel on the day of the attack, Snyder sought to shift the blame elsewhere, saying, "I directed (Johnson) to process the scene."

But Garman told the Times that it was Snyder's job to tell Johnson what to look for and where.
Johnson, explaining why he didn't collect the knife or the towel when he processed the house, testified, "I didn't know specifically to look for them."

Snyder declined a request for an interview Thursday, saying he couldn't talk about the case during the trial.

Snyder, 38, has been with the New Port Richey Police Department for 12 years, and has been a detective since 1993. His personnel file is filled with above-average performance reviews and a stack of commendations.

"Howard is a dedicated law enforcement officer,"Garman said. "Here's a guy who's on call all the time, who goes out to crime scenes whenever he's asked.

"Did he make mistakes here? That's blatantly obvious. Has this happened in other cases? Not that I'm aware of."