HEADLINE: To veteran officer, a 'sad state of affairs' 

During a long-ago April in which a young Edward T. Norris marked his first birthday, Officer Stephen B. Tabeling was summoned to police headquarters to hear praise of his fine work.

Now, 41 years after Police Commissioner James M. Hepbron congratulated the young patrolman, Norris is the commissioner and Tabeling is helping him lift the Police Department out of a funk that recently found the homicide squad unable to solve six out of every 10 murders.
Tabeling retired in 1979 after a distinguished quarter-century career that included five years as a lieutenant in homicide. He went on to serve as police chief in Salisbury and as director of security at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Loyola College.

Then, as Martin O'Malley was moving into City Hall, he was tapped for a new assignment: evaluate the city homicide squad. "It was a mess," says Tabeling, 73.

"I knew our murder clearance rate was in the dumps," says retired Col. Bert Shirey, who was acting commissioner when he asked Tabeling for the assessment. "I think it was 30-some percent."

Tabeling delivered a succinct but devastating report -- a harsh eight-page indictment of the homicide unit and department brass -- and then went to work training virtually every city police officer and detective.

"There has been a failure of leadership at all levels, which rendered this once premier unit to this sad state of affairs," Tabeling said in the report. He wrote of a "malaise" in homicide, saying that "confidence in the unit's efficiency and effectiveness is at an all-time low."

Detectives lacked sufficient equipment, including automobiles and telephones, he said. And they were ill-prepared, he wrote, citing "deficient skill levels in the basic investigative aptitudes."

Tabeling laid much of the blame on former Commissioner Thomas C. Frazier's "rotation" policy that replaced experienced homicide investigators with novices.

Many of the replacements, he wrote, were patrol officers "who possessed neither requisite investigative skills nor sufficient knowledge of the law nor of departmental policies and procedures." And, once they joined homicide, they weren't adequately trained.

"It's been such a big turnover," he said in an interview. "When you put inexperienced men in with inexperienced supervisors, I guess you're going to have those problems."

After Norris and subordinates digested his report, they again turned to Tabeling for help. He is now training detectives and uniformed officers in investigative techniques and in the art of testifying in court.

He is one of the instructors in a one-week course on criminal investigations. He spent 12 weeks teaching headquarters detectives and 26 weeks with district detectives. He is three-quarters of the way through a 49-week stint for uniformed officers. When he's finished, most patrol officers and detectives will have been in his classes.

Tabeling vividly recalls the days when he was a lieutenant on a squad of 28 detectives that investigated homicides and other crimes against individuals.

"We had a good captain, an experienced captain who was a good investigator" with long years of experience as a homicide detective, Tabeling said. "We had a squad of experienced, dependable investigators. We had patrolmen who knew what to do. We had roll-call training every day."

Basic investigative techniques haven't changed in the quarter-century since he was a homicide supervisor.

What is different today, Tabeling says, is a lack of adequate training, insufficient knowledge of the law and too little experience among investigators.

"And dedication," he adds.

Nearly three years after the rotation policy was jettisoned, Tabeling is dismayed to see weak murder cases going down the drain before they go to trial and defense attorneys winning acquittals after picking apart police investigations in front of skeptical jurors.

He doesn't blame the defense attorneys.

"The defense is only as good as the information investigators give them," he says.

He also sees a need for better communication between detectives and police personnel and between homicide investigators and prosecutors -- all aimed at better coordination and preparation of cases for court.

He emphasizes the importance of testimony.

"Court testimony skills must be of highest level of proficiency," he wrote in his report.

"I tell these guys," he said recently, "when you get on the witness stand, you not only tell the truth. It's how you tell the truth. You have to paint a word picture for the judge and the jury so they will think as if they were there."

Tabeling is an amateur student of the law who tracks court decisions that affect police work. His advice to patrol officers is blunt: Before a detailed search of a crime scene, get a warrant, even if you think you don't need one.

"You can't go wrong," he told a recent class.

"I would match Steve on Fourth Amendment law against any lawyer in town," says Peter D. Ward, a defense attorney who worked with Tabeling as a prosecutor.

Tabeling could not have imagined such praise when he quit school in the seventh grade and took a job as a Western Union messenger.

"I'm not a kid that wanted to be a cop," he says. "It was the last thing on my mind."

By 1954, married with two young children, he was driving a streetcar when he decided that was a job without a future.

"I went down to City Hall and put an application in for every job that was open: Fire Department, Police Department, sewer department," he says.

"I got a call from the Police Department."

Over the years, he won six bronze stars and 48 commendations while building a reputation for integrity and the ability to crack tough cases.

"He solved a lot of them," says Judge John N. Prevas, who was a prosecutor when Tabeling was working homicides.

Tabeling was an officer of "unchallengeable integrity," adds retired Court of Special Appeals Judge Charles E. Moylan Jr., who worked with Tabeling as an assistant state's attorney and state's attorney.

"Even to win a case, he wouldn't even fudge the facts ever so slightly," Moylan said. "There were a handful of people you knew you could trust with your life. Steve Tabeling was one."

For five years, Tabeling supervised homicide detectives. He led some high-profile investigations: A state delegate charged with smuggling $10 million worth of heroin into Baltimore was gunned down weeks before his trial; a city councilman was murdered and another wounded by a deranged gunman who went to City Hall looking for Mayor William Donald Schaefer.

Those were the glory days of the homicide squad, when the detectives solved 80 percent to 90 percent of city murders and got convictions in 90 percent of the cases.

Before his tenure in homicide, Tabeling filled a number of plain clothes and uniform assignments. Some were touchy. He investigated police corruption. His family spent months under police guard after threats from murder defendants he had arrested.

Along the way, he found the time for school, earning a college degree, a master's degree and a couple of certificates in advanced studies. He taught at community colleges.

In 1971, Tabeling was named to head the investigative unit in a new federally funded narcotics strike force in the state's attorney's office. 

Fifteen months later, subpoenas were served on the Police Department in an investigation of the disappearance of $100,000 in heroin from the headquarters property room. Commissioner Donald D. Pomerleau was outraged. Within hours he yanked Tabeling off the task force job.
"I think they wanted him to tell them when subpoenas were coming up," says Ward, who also was the chief prosecutor on the strike force. "Steve didn't want to be in the position of being a spy."

For his part, Tabeling insists he had no advance knowledge of the subpoenas. Nevertheless, he adds: "Someone accused me of not being loyal to the Police Department. What was I going to do, obstruct justice?" 

HEADLINE: LAPD Sued 

A Los Angeles police officer sued the department today, claiming he was denied a promotion as payback for reporting misconduct by Rampart scandal figures Rafael Perez and partner Nino Durden.

Armando Coronado, who was denied a promotion to sergeant last year, claims he reported misconduct involving the two officers in 1997, when he was assigned to the narcotics unit at the Rampart Station, according to the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit.

Coronado, who also named acting police Chief Martin Pomeroy as a defendant, claims the denial was "part of a continuing pattern and practice of retaliation" for reporting the misconduct.  As a matter of policy, the Los Angeles Police Department does not comment on pending litigation.

In 1997, Coronado started observing or had reported "several allegations of theft by officers ... which raised issues of possible misconduct and/or criminal activity" by Perez and Durden, according to the lawsuit.

In June 1998, when Coronado was interviewed by LAPD officials about missing drugs, he "revealed information about the prior allegations of theft and disciplinary and/or criminal issues related to conduct by Perez and Durden," according to the lawsuit.

Beginning in 2000, Coronado was accused of police misconduct on charges that were "based upon statements of Perez and/or Durden."

In March 2001, Coronado found out his promotion to sergeant would be placed on hold because of those allegations. In December, he learned his promotion would be denied, according to the lawsuit.

Coronado, who claims his constitutional rights were violated, wants an injunction against the city to "bring it into compliance" with the First and 14th amendments, the lawsuit states. He also wants unspecified monetary damages, including loss of income. 

Perez agreed to cooperate with an internal investigation about misconduct within his anti-gang unit in exchange for a five-year sentence for stealing about $1 million worth of cocaine from an evidence locker.

Durden, convicted of state and federal charges, including perjury and conspiracy to obstruct justice, also got five years in prison. He is expected to be released after serving roughly half that time. 

HEADLINE: HONESTY PAYS -- MOST OF THE TIME; A HARTFORD OFFICER'S STARTLING ADMISSIONS COST HIM ONE JOB, PROBABLY TWO 

When Hartford police Officer Gregory DePietro sat down for a job interview in West Hartford last year, he was told to be honest about his background.

The 31-year-old DePietro, a six-year veteran of the Hartford force, did not disappoint. 
When asked if he ever kept confiscated evidence for his own use, DePietro said yes. When asked if he ever falsified a police report, he said yes. Sleeping on the job, stealing police property, fixing parking tickets, destroying drugs taken as evidence and letting the suspects go free -- DePietro admitted to all of them.

By the time he was done unburdening his soul to a stunned West Hartford police detective, DePietro had done more than ruin any chance he had of joining the West Hartford force.

DePietro's admissions of on-the-job violations in Hartford spurred an exhaustive internal-affairs investigation in Hartford that is wrapping up and could cost him his job.

A copy of the internal-affairs investigation, obtained by The Courant, reveals an officer who was so nervous about taking a polygraph test as part of the job interview that he ended up admitting to more than 20 department violations.

In the process, DePietro implicated more than a dozen of his colleagues by describing an "old school" department that routinely discards drugs and other evidence and confiscates watches, guns and other items seized from criminals or found on the job.

DePietro, who remains on the job in Hartford in an administrative post, will likely lose his job when the investigation concludes with a disciplinary hearing later this year, sources said. But Hartford police officials still must determine whether DePietro's allegations point to one problem officer or an atmosphere throughout the department in which officers are encouraged to cut corners.

Either way, investigators remain stunned that DePietro made the admissions during a job interview that turned into a confessional.

As one attorney told DePietro during the internal-affairs questioning: "You were spilling your guts, beyond what was probably necessary."

DePietro could not be reached for comment Monday night. He is being represented by police union attorney Frank Szilagyi, who declined to comment Monday.

Hartford police spokeswoman Sgt. Maura Hammick said she could not comment on the case because it was being referred for a disciplinary hearing. West Hartford Police Chief James Strillacci also declined to comment.

Hartford State's Attorney James Thomas said he was familiar with the DePietro investigation but had not been approached by Hartford police about pursuing criminal charges. A memo included in the internal-affairs report indicates that Hartford police believe criminal charges against DePietro would be difficult to pursue. The report says investigators are more interested in pursuing internal discipline.

According to a summary provided by a West Hartford detective, the job interview for an officer's post took place about a week before Christmas last year. DePietro showed up neatly dressed but obviously nervous, the summary says.

During a videotaped interview, done to check DePietro's honesty during a polygraph test that would follow, DePietro said he was "coerced" by veteran Hartford officers to "stretch the truth" in his reports and "peer pressure" to keep items found on the job.

DePietro was never given the polygraph test because the interview had already ended his chances of employment, the report says.

Later, during the Hartford police investigation, DePietro explained that he admitted to the violations because he was nervous about being caught lying during the polygraph, the report says.

"I'm a very sensitive person," DePietro said, according to the report. "I was trying to be so specific for this interview because of the fact that I was going to be wired to a lie-detector machine."

He also had to answer a list of more than 130 yes-or-no questions covering all aspects of his personal and professional history. DePietro answered "yes" to more than 55 of them, including admissions that he twice stole knives he had seized and had possessed heroin, morphine or codeine.

West Hartford police officials notified Hartford police officials, who launched the internal investigation to learn more about DePietro's transgressions.

In particular, internal-affairs investigators Sgt. John Horvath and Sgt. Neville Brooks were eager to find out about a shotgun that DePietro said had been improperly confiscated by one of his partners on patrol.

DePietro told his West Hartford interviewers that he was troubled by his partner's decision to steal the shotgun after it was found in an abandoned vehicle, the report says. The partner denied the allegation in a subsequent interview with internal affairs.

DePietro also was questioned about an incident on New Year's Eve in 1999 in which he admitted to allowing a package of suspected crack cocaine to be flushed down a police department toilet and then allowing three suspects to go free, the report says.

DePietro said he and another officer were handed the drugs and the suspects by members of the department's SWAT team, who were busy rounding up drug suspects on a busy night and did not have time to book the suspects themselves, the report says.

When DePietro and the other officer arrived at the police substation on Albany Avenue, they decided to flush the drugs and issue tickets to the three suspects for trespassing, the report says.

DePietro said he and the other officer decided they could not arrest the suspects on drug charges because they didn't know the circumstances in which the drugs were found, the report says.

The other officer told investigators he was in another room when DePietro discarded the drugs and let the suspects go, adding that he was never consulted about DePietro's decision. His version remains under investigation, according to department sources.

Also under investigation is DePietro's allegation that two officers beat a handcuffed suspect in the substation as other officers watched. DePietro later explained to internal-affairs investigators that he was in a nearby room when the alleged beating took place, and never saw it himself, the report says.

DePietro also admitted to stealing two knives taken from suspects during arrests, one of which he discarded and the other he kept for an undisclosed time, the report says. He also admitted to stealing a liner for a bulletproof vest from a police property room, the report says.

For many of the admissions made in the interview, DePietro said that he misunderstood the questions and answered as literally as possible. For example, when asked if he ever started a fire, DePietro said he answered yes because he frequently starts fires on his barbecue grill at home, the report says.

Similarly, DePietro said he admitted to sleeping on the job but questioned the definition of "sleep." He said he has closed his eyes while sitting in his cruiser on a night shift, but always kept his ear to the radio to make sure he never missed a call, the report says.

DePietro also explained that he admitted to possessing drugs because he frequently seizes drugs as a police officer, the report says. On some of the admissions, DePietro later said that he had no memory of the admission, despite evidence in the videotaped interview and questionnaire.
DePietro also admitted to one more indiscretion: lying during a job interview -- but not the West Hartford one.

HEADLINE: Authorities wrangle over destroying meth lab evidence

With meth labs booming in Oklahoma, so is the issue of handling evidence from them. It is becoming especially divisive in Ottawa County, where a judge was asked recently to suppress evidence of a lab because investigators took photos of it, then destroyed it. 

The issue isn't going away soon, not with 22 methamphetamine lab cases set for the October felony trial docket. The drug is a growing problem, hitting all areas of rural and urban Oklahoma. Meth lab seizures have increased steadily, with last year's 1,193 seizures making Oklahoma No. 3 in the nation. 

In Comanche County, certified deputies process meth labs, photos are taken of the evidence and samples are sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for analysis, said Ray Pyeatt, narcotics investigator. He said defense attorneys have tried to argue that evidence was destroyed. "With methamphetamine the No. 1 problem in our area, we don't have enough storage room or the proper containers to hold the evidence," Pyeatt said. "You really don't want to bring all that hazardous material into the courtroom." 

The issue recently took center stage in Ottawa County when attorneys for a suspected meth maker filed a motion to suppress photographic evidence in a case before Associate District Judge Bill Culver. Scott Graham, a sheriff's deputy and member of the Ottawa County drug unit, testified in a preliminary hearing that he took photographs of the methamphetamine materials, then destroyed the lab. 

The motion to suppress evidence prompted Sheriff Dennis King to fire off a letter to associate district judges Robert Haney and Culver saying he would not store materials seized from methamphetamine labs in his department. Ottawa County detective Mike Eason said the evidence room couldn't safely hold meth materials. "If one of the containers had a leak and exploded, a four-block radius around the courthouse would go up in smoke and flames," Eason said. Culver declined to comment on the case, except to say he overruled the motion to suppress and would accept photographs of methamphetamine material as evidence. Haney said the law can be interpreted various ways. "One part of the statute says the best evidence must be maintained, and another part of the law says hazardous materials must be destroyed," Haney said. "It wouldn't be a problem if the materials were stored in a sealed container." 

The sheriff said methamphetamine labs are toxic and flammable and cannot be put in sealed containers. Last year, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department confiscated 50 methamphetamine labs. The sheriff said he called the state Environmental Quality Department, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Occupational Safety and Health Agency about storing the hazardous materials. "I was told by all the agencies I could not store the materials at the sheriff's department, and if I did, I would be slapped with a fine," King said. He said he was told the materials could be stored in an off-site building. But insurance costs and city and county regulations make that impossible. "I have spoken to the county commissioners, and there is no feasible way to store the materials," King said. "We cannot ask taxpayers to assume a $ 500,000 to $ 1 million bill to build a storage unit to hold methamphetamine labs." King is expected to address the issue at the county commissioners' meeting today. Eason said that after a drug bust, authorities photograph the lab, take samples from the different chemicals, photograph the samples with a special evidence identification number and send the samples to the OSBI lab for analysis. During a preliminary hearing or trial, the photograph and the lab results are entered as evidence, Eason said. 

He added that not every sample is sent to the OSBI lab. "Sometimes a result from a field test is used in a preliminary hearing," Eason said. "If a defendant pleads guilty, the sample is destroyed." Samples waiting to be sent to the lab are stored in the evidence room, Eason said. In Mayes County, 42 labs were confiscated in 2001, and 53 labs have been confiscated this year. 

"Methamphetamine combined with burglary is our biggest problem," Mayes County Sheriff Frank Cantey said. Cantey said deputies collect the unfinished materials as evidence, store them in five-gallon plastic containers and send to the OSBI lab for testing. "As far as I know, we don't destroy anything until after a case is disposed of," Cantey said. Cantey added that the finished product is put into a sample kit and sent to the OSBI, but the remainder is stored in containers in the evidence vault. 

"The finished product is not hazardous and will not explode as long as it isn't near an open flame," Cantey said. "The materials start to explode when you mix the products." Trent Baggett, associate executive coordinator for the Oklahoma District Attorney's Council, said that beginning Nov. 1, House Bill 2303 will allow law enforcement agencies to destroy materials. Materials exceeding 10 pounds seized in a single incident are to be photographed with identifying case numbers and accompanied by a descriptive report. 

Agencies are required to keep one pound of the substance seized for every 10 pounds, and the sample taken must be large enough for the defendant to have an independent test, Baggett said. "While there are rules of evidence to be concerned with, you may have a difference in interpreting the law," Baggett said. "No one is wrong - just different." Kym Koch, OSBI spokeswoman, said when the agency is called in to handle a methamphetamine bust, they take representative samples, photograph the materials and later destroy them. 
 
 

HEADLINE: Thieves steal drugs, money from drug task force office 

DATELINE: FLORENCE, Ala. 

Someone broke into the offices of the Lauderdale County Drug Task Force and stole marijuana, Oxycontin and money from evidence lockers. 

A variety of street drugs and an undisclosed amount of money were taken, according to police records. Police Chief Rick Singleton said he's asked the Alabama Bureau of Investigation to investigate. 

Task force members worked Sunday night and early Monday morning. Upon returning to the office at about 3 a.m., officers found that someone apparently kicked in the office door, said Singleton. 

"There were agents in and out of the office all night, but there was a window of two or three hours when there wasn't anyone there," Singleton said. 

Singleton said several businesses near the task force office in downtown Florence have been burglarized during the past two months. 

Florence, Lauderdale County and the University of North Alabama participate in the drug task force.

HEADLINE: DISMISSAL ENDS DRUG CHARGE FOR ALDERMAN 

Gruetli-Laager Alderman James Duane Layne, 38, left the Grundy County Courthouse in Southeast Tennessee smiling after Asst. Dist. Atty. Bill Copeland agreed to dismiss a charge of purchasing a controlled substance. 

Layne's attorney, Michelle Benjamin, described the charge as "politically motivated."

"I'm happy it's dismissed," Layne said. He declined further comment. Copeland declined comment about dismissing the charges.

Layne was charged with purchasing 20 carspropodol pills - a controlled substance - without a prescription from an undercover officer Aug. 12.

A court clerk said 32 other cases, more than half of them involving drug offenses such as criminal conspiracy to manufacture methamphetamine, were also dismissed because none of Gruetli-Laager's former police officers showed up for court.

Layne took office Aug. 6 after making a campaign promise to shut down the 1,800-resident city's police force that included longtime chief Ferrell Hicks and two full-time officers Kevin Keele and James Dycus.

Layne and other members of the Board of Aldermen voted 4-1 to dissolve the police force Aug. 16.

Neither Keele, who was identified on the docket at Layne's preliminary hearing as the arresting officer, nor Dycus could be reached by telephone for comment about the cases being dismissed.
Gruetli-Laager Mayor Donna Rollins, who like Layne campaigned promising to shut down the police force, has said she responded to citizen complaints of harassment by the officers and to eliminate its $106,000 annual operating cost.

Taylor said in a telephone interview that his office didn't have Immediately after the force was disbanded investigators began poring over evidence records amid questions about large numbers of confiscated vehicles. Dist. Atty. Mike Taylor's investigators completed an inventory of the police evidence room and last week requested assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

"We can't tell a defendant to just keep coming back," he said.

But Taylor said some of the cases could be presented to a grand jury in November.

Hicks said there were about 100 pending criminal cases when the force was disbanded. 
Gruetli-Laager's law enforcement is now being handled by Grundy County deputies. 

HEADLINE: Jail guard among 4 drug suspects ; Seized cocaine was stolen in '01 

FLORESVILLE - A former drug task force member and three other San Antonio men were charged Tuesday in connection with the theft of 70 pounds of cocaine from the storage facility of the 81st Judicial District Narcotics Task Force. 

Edward Arthur Moreno was a member of the task force, which covers Atascosa, Frio, Karnes and Wilson counties, until Oct. 31, 2001. 

Less than a week before, on Oct. 25, 2001, 70 pounds of cocaine was stolen from the storage facility in Wilson County in a late-night burglary. 

The burglars used pry bars and bolt cutters to get into the building and vault where the drugs were stored. Moreno and Samuel M. Guebara were arrested Tuesday without incident. 

Juan Daniel Gonzales Jr. and Darryl Craig DelaCruz had agreed to surrender Tuesday afternoon and their arrests were being coordinated with their attorneys, said Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt.  "The investigation is still ongoing," said state Department of Public Safety Captain Patrick O'Burke. "We still have some very active leads we are pursuing. This is just a good start so far." 

Moreno was arrested at the Guadalupe County Jail, where he works as a corrections officer.  Guebara also has previous police experience as an officer for the Somerset Police Department, O'Burke said. 

O'Burke said all four men live in San Antonio and all are in their 30s, although he did not have their dates of birth. 

All four men are charged with conspiracy to distribute in excess of 5 kilograms of cocaine. Moreno, Guebara and Gonzales also are charged with distribution of over 5 kilograms of cocaine.  O'Burke said federal sentencing guidelines are confusing, but each man faces at least 10 years on each charge. 

Tackitt said it hurt to see former police officers arrested on drug charges."It's like finding out your spouse was not true to you," he said.   "You hold them to a higher standard, so it's very disappointing." 

Tackitt said Moreno was notified that he was being terminated from his job in September 2001, but his last day was not until the end of October 2001.  O'Burke said Moreno became a suspect very quickly after the cocaine was stolen. 

The 70 pounds of cocaine was seized in a drug raid, but charges against the suspect were dropped after the burglary because the drugs were needed for evidence, Tackitt said. 

The stolen cocaine was never recovered.

HEADLINE: Office of indicted constable missing cash, laptops, pistol 

Although the disappearance of at least $ 5,000 placed in a property room safe last year has not been linked to Wooten, prosecutors believe he knows what happened to the money."Given what we know about the control he exerted over that office, I would certainly expect he would know about that money," Assistant District Attorney Donna Goode said Wednesday. 

Wooten, who was charged earlier this year with abuse of official capacity and theft by a public servant, stepped down with pay in August until the charges are resolved. Prosecutors allege he participated in a time sheet scam at his office and had employees run personal errands on county time.

Although there is no indication Wooten knows the location of $ 11,200 in computer equipment and a pistol missing from his office, records show he returned a computer and document scanner earlier this week after repeated demands from county officials.

Wooten's attorney, Robert Alton Jones, said he knew nothing about the missing items and would need more information before commenting.

County Auditor Tommy Tompkins told prosecutors his office discovered the missing cash during an audit last month.

Records show an office employee, Joseph Harris, put $ 5,000 in cash in the office safe on March 6, 2001, and that deputy constable Curtis Thompson put in $ 5,000 the same day. The safe was sometimes used to hold seized drug money. But because there were no case numbers recorded with the cash, investigators cannot determine the source of the money, Tompkins said.
Harris couldn't be reached for comment Wednesday, but Thompson said he doesn't remember logging $ 5,000 into the safe and that he may have signed off as a witness to Harris' deposit. As a result, officials don't know whether $ 5,000 or $ 10,000 is missing.

Interim Constable Michael Butler said only three people had access to the safe when the money was placed there: Wooten, Harris and another employee who will be questioned soon.

Butler said the pistol was among several pistols and shotguns bought by Wooten's office to start a SWAT team. After assuming office, Butler took the weapons back, but was unable to find the missing one.

Missing items:

$ 5,000 to $ 10,000 in cash from a property room safe.

Three laptop computers.

A .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol.

HEADLINE: Jail audit finds untended keys, evidence, checks; 

Officials say most of the problems noted in 2001 state report have been fixed. 

Whatcom County sheriff deputies and corrections officers did not properly safeguard jail keys, a jail checkbook and evidence, according to state auditors.

The audit, which covered 2001, did not report any findings against the county, but noted those problems and several others in a management letter. County officials said they've rectified most of the problems.

At Whatcom County Jail, auditors found an unlocked box containing keys that open all areas of the jail, a checkbook sitting out in an open area, and noted that employees who write invoices and track accounts also take in money. 

The keys were in an old wooden key cabinet with a broken lock in the sergeant's office, said Corrections Chief Wendy Jones. She said the sergeant's office is accessed through the jail booking area, and the jail had already ordered a new key box before auditors noticed the problem.

Inmates have their money deposited in a bank account when booked into jail and get a check for that money when they leave. That checkbook also was sitting unlocked in the sergeant's office, which is open to all jail staff members even if the sergeant is not there. After getting the management letter, the checkbook was put in a locked filing cabinet, Jones said.

The third problem was that the employee in charge of accounts receivable in alternative corrections sometimes would take money at the front desk, a task that should be handled separately. Auditors told jail officials about the problem before releasing their management letter and the officials told the employee not to accept money anymore, Jones said.

Evidence room

In the Sheriff's Office evidence room, auditors found:

Spare keys to the evidence room were left unattended in a desk drawer.

Bags containing evidence booked or to be booked into the evidence room were left unattended in the evidence intake area.

The evidence room safe was left unlocked and access to it was not restricted to those working in the evidence room.

Items at high risk for theft, such as drugs and cash, were not kept separate from other evidence.
Unclaimed and abandoned money was not being spot checked to prevent theft.

Undersheriff Deane Sandell emphasized that just three people have access to the room without an escort, and the room is always locked and has an alarm. Supervisors told the employee who left a key in a drawer to be more careful and reiterated that evidence was not to be left in unlocked areas, he said.

The safe was not locked at all times, but was in a locked and alarmed evidence room, Sandell said. In response to the management letter, evidence supervisors have been told to keep the safe locked, he said.

The evidence room has a locked room within it for money and drugs, but weapons and some drugs have been kept in the main part of the evidence room, Sandell said. That has not been an issue in previous audits, but the Sheriff's Office will try to make a screened area within the evidence room, he said.

As for spot checks on money, Sandell said employees do random spot checks on evidence in general, but do not focus checks on money. No items have ever been found to be missing, he said.

Parks Department

At the county Parks and Recreation Department, auditors found:

Multiple employees work from one cash drawer and have access to a single safe at parks and at park headquarters, meaning supervisors would not know who was responsible for irregularities.

At one park, about $1,800 sat without being deposited for more than a week.

Money collected was not reconciled to receipts.

The department was not keeping a check log to track money received through the mail.

At least at one park, checks were not endorsed to the county as soon as they were received.
Parks and Recreation Director Roger DeSpain said the department's 2003 budget request includes money for individual cash drawers for employees.

He blamed most of the rest of the problems on employee error, said officials had gone over policies with some employees and would beef up cash-handling training for seasonal workers. He said the department changed its check log procedure to satisfy auditors. 

October 10, 2002 Thursday 
HEADLINE: Police worker charged with theft;
He stole seized cocaine, sold it, U.S. attorney says

A federal grand jury has indicted a Detroit police civilian employee for stealing nearly 223 pounds of cocaine over six years, selling it for $1.3 million and using the proceeds to buy houses for friends, family members and business associates. Eight other people were charged, including a Michigan State Police lieutenant.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Collins said the main defendant is John Cole Sr., 50, of Detroit, who allegedly stole cocaine from the property room from 1994 through 2000.

The stolen cocaine -- which came from six police seizures over nine years -- was replaced with flour, Collins said. Collins alleges that Cole sold all of the cocaine and made $1.3 million. Of that money, $500,000 was used to purchase 19 houses and commercial buildings, which were titled in different people's names, according to the indictment. "It is our position that this conduct is nothing short of appalling," Collins said at a news conference Wednesday.

Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver, who joined the department in February, said he's doing what he can to improve security at the antiquated police headquarters building, which houses the property room. But without a new facility and computerized inventory systems, Oliver said he can't guarantee another theft couldn't occur.

"I don't think you can walk off with 101 kilos of cocaine, but I do think property can come up missing, can be misplaced," said Oliver, who has added cameras to the property room. "Employees, if they had a desire to really get by the system, could get by the system. But I do think that the chance for them to get detected earlier is greater."

Ernest Myatt, 49, of Belleville, a State Police lieutenant and polygraph operator, and Donald Hynes, 41, a retired Detroit police officer, were indicted on charges of money laundering and lying to a grand jury. Myatt and Hynes are alleged to have knowingly invested money in the properties bought with the drug profits.

After arraignment in U.S. District Court on Wednesday, Hynes -- who retired in 2001 -- was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond, but U.S. District Judge Steven Pepe ordered him to surrender his passport and to not leave the country. Hynes' attorney, Brian Dailey, said Hynes was arrested Wednesday morning.  "My client is seeking a very vigorous defense, and that's what he'll get," Dailey said.

Hynes spent the last years of his career working in the property room. He also worked at the front desk in police headquarters, checking individuals and IDs as they entered the building.

Oliver, who took over as chief in February, offered encouragement to Detroiters. "We will once again retain and gain the confidence of this community in terms of a professional Police Department," he said.  The remaining suspects charged with money laundering are all associates or relatives of John Cole Sr. They are: David Cole Jr., 60; Anthony Lasenby, 33; Shirley Terry, 34; Cora Cole-Robinson, 74; Chontrice Cole, 28, and Ida Mae Hall, 72, all of Detroit.

The 89-page indictment, unsealed Wednesday, charges the suspects with 17 counts of conspiracy to distribute drugs, money laundering, conspiracy to obstruct justice, lying to a federal grand jury and conspiracy to steal, embezzle and intentionally convert police property. John Cole Sr. faces up to life in prison if convicted of the drug counts. The others face up to 20 years in prison and $500,000-plus fines.

The indictment said John Cole, a delivery driver who was responsible for receiving, storing and retrieving property room evidence, stole the drugs between 1994 and 2000. The drugs had been seized between March 1986 and June 1999.

The indictment said Cole replaced some of the cocaine with unopened bags of Gold Medal flour in weights roughly equal to the cocaine that was taken. After taking the drugs, he allegedly sold it for more than $1.3 million, the indictment said.

Cole used the money to buy 19 houses and commercial buildings that he listed in the names of his mother, brother, son, daughter and other codefendants to disguise his ownership of the property, the indictment said.  Officials allege he also purchased two Chevrolet Corvettes, which he titled in the names of his brother, David Cole, and an associate, Lasenby.

Cole will remain in the Wayne County Jail until at least today, when a detention hearing is scheduled. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Tukel said he will make a case as to Cole's risk of flight and danger to the community.  Terry allegedly used her position as a bank teller to make cash transactions without having to fill out the required federal paperwork for transactions over $10,000. The indictment said Cole purchased one of the homes in Terry's name on a 30-year mortgage that he paid off in three weeks.

It was unclear what role Myatt, the State Police lieutenant, played in the alleged scheme. He was described as John Cole's business partner. The indictment said John Cole purchased one of the homes in Myatt's name.  After being arraigned, Myatt was released on a $10,000 unsecured bond. His attorney, Larry Polk, would not comment on the charges.  Hynes is accused of laundering some of the money through his bank account.

Federal agents raided John Cole's home in the 5500 block of West Outer Drive in May 2001, and seized records for the purchases.  John Cole, his brother, daughter, mother-in-law and Terry are accused of lying to a federal grand jury, which began investigating the thefts in May 2001. The indictment said they falsely testified that their own funds had been used to buy the houses.

The indictment also accused John Cole of giving a .38-caliber derringer that he had taken from the property room to Lasenby.

HEADLINE: Detroit cop drug probe expands to cash, guns;
Chief says property room was mess, much more may be missing 

DETROIT -- The indictment of nine people on charges of stealing at least 222 pounds of cocaine from the Detroit Police Department's evidence room is the first step in a wider investigation to account for weapons and cash that could be missing from the storage area, Chief Jerry A. Oliver Sr. said Wednesday.

"There are whole lockers and vaults of weapons that have to be inventoried and accounted for," Oliver said. "We have huge amounts of money, cash, that must be inventoried and we are in the process of doing that. There are hundreds of property envelopes filled with cash. Our procedures associated with destroying drugs have not been stringently adhered to."

The indictments come as a team of 17 FBI and Detroit police officers, created in late July, is looking into a wide range of charges of wrong-doing in the Police Department, said Oliver and Paula Wendell, the acting special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI. More prosecutions of Police Department employees for misconduct are expected, Wendell said. 

There are about 200,000 guns listed in property records at the Detroit Police Department's evidence room. But because there has been no recent inventory, the department's leadership has no way of knowing how many are actually there, Oliver said.

"I don't know how many guns we have. We have far too many guns," he said.

Up until a few months ago, all confiscated property was recorded on paper, and there were no cameras in the evidence room. The cameras still have problems in that they don't cover the entire room, Oliver said.

Detroit has had problems with its evidence room for years. In 1994, a Detroit police officer was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for stealing 200 weapons that were found in Sanilac County.

For decades, the department has used one sprawling room, with no segregation of property by vaults or other safeguards to protect and keep evidence. Valuables were kept behind mesh wire, and in open cabinets or on the floor.

By comparison, the FBI in Detroit has four separate evidence rooms -- for weapons, drugs, valuable property and regular property. In order to remove valuable items, two witnesses are required and strict scrutiny is maintained.

Stolen cocaine

Wednesday's indictments of nine people on charges of stealing cocaine from the evidence room and then selling it are the result of an investigation that began in March 2001. Police discovered that the cocaine, which was to be used in a sting, was missing when they found a sealed package of Gold Medal flour in a box that was supposed to contain the drug.

Those charged Wednesday included former Detroit Police Officer Donald C. Hynes, 41, who left the department last year; Michigan State Police Lt. Ernest D. Myatt Sr., 49, a polygraph examiner; and John Earl Cole Sr., 50, a 24-year civilian police employee who worked as a driver ferrying seized evidence, including drugs, from crime scenes and precincts to the downtown property room. The indictment also charges that Myatt was Cole's business partner. Myatt, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was suspended without pay from the state police.
Cole, who worked in the property room as recently as last Saturday, stole the cocaine and sold it for $1.3 million, along with at least one gun from the property room, the indictment says.
Cole, who pleaded not guilty to the charges, was ordered held by federal Magistrate Steven Pepe, pending a hearing today.

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey G. Collins, who announced the indictment, said the missing cocaine did not affect the outcome of six cases in which the drugs were seized.

Called mastermind

Cole, who made $30,000 in his Police Department job, was described as the mastermind of the cocaine thefts that allegedly occurred between 1994 and 2000 and netted him more than $1.3 million when the drugs were sold. About $500,000 of that money was used to buy and renovate 18 properties, mostly rental homes, and a barber shop, the indictment says.

To hide the transactions, Cole enlisted family members in the scheme, federal authorities said. Their names, as well as that of Myatt, were used on the titles of the properties, the indictment says. The purchases of property with the drug money continued until earlier this year.

Cole also is accused of using $23,433 in a cashier's check to buy a 1992 Corvette sports car. He allegedly used three kilograms of the stolen cocaine to pay Anthony Lasenby for another Corvette.

He also gave a gun -- a .357 Derringer-style handgun valued at $5,000 -- to Lasenby. The gun had been in evidence at Detroit police headquarters since 1986. In another transaction, Cole sold a kilogram of cocaine to Lasenby, who was also indicted on Wednesday.
Family, friends tied in

Also named in the indictment were Cora L. Cole-Robinson, 74, Cole's mother; Ida Mae Hall, 72, his former mother-in-law; his brother, David L. Cole, 60; his daughter, Chontrice Cole; and a friend, Shirley Terry, who was employed as a teller at Comerica Bank.

The 17 counts against the defendants include conspiracy to commit perjury, laundering money and distributing cocaine, as well as making false declarations before a grand jury and obstruction of justice.

Terry helped Cole launder the drug proceeds by advising him on how to avoid the government's reporting requirements for transaction of more than $10,000 in currency, the indictment says.
She also intentionally failed to file legally required reports on some of Cole's deals and purchases above $10,000.

The indictment also charges that Terry, now a credit union employee, conspired with Cole in buying a home on Cole's behalf and then negotiating a $19,000 mortgage in her name from Comerica on Feb. 11, 1997. Less than three weeks after making an initial payment of $448, the balance of the mortgage was paid off.

Cole's son, John E. "John John" Cole Jr. was named in the indictment but was not charged in the alleged crimes. By not charging the younger Cole, government prosecutor's may use his testimony against the others.

The younger Cole's name was used to hide his father's ownership of several pieces of property, the indictment says. For example, in November 1998, Cole and then-police Officer Hynes deposited two checks for $9,000 each into an account in the name of William Hynes.

Those deposits were then turned into a $25,000 check from the William Hynes account and used to buy a barber shop on Van Dyke. The ownership of the barber shop was placed in the name of John E. Cole Jr.

In explaining the purchase of another home on Outer Drive to a federal grand jury, Ida Mae Hall testified she saved $36,000 in cash through hard work and gave the money to her grandson, the younger Cole, and that he used the money to buy the home.

She told the grand jurors she kept the $36,000 cash in pillow cases and in a mattress even though she and her husband regularly deposited about $2,500 every month in an account at Comerica Bank.

Task force probe

The task force conducting the investigation of the department was created on July 30, when the FBI and the Detroit Police signed a memorandum of understanding. The FBI committed an entire squad -- 10 agents -- to work in an undisclosed location with seven Detroit police officers.

The signing of the legally binding memorandum is an indication of how concerned officials are about charges of corruption in the department.

"There are a number of public corruption cases that we expect to bring forward," said Wendell, the acting special agent in charge of the Detroit FBI.

Oliver is not confident all the evidence can be accounted for. To safeguard confiscated property in the future, he said he has begun to take precautions and make procedural changes.

The department needs a system where items are bar-coded and computer programs can carefully track the whereabouts of evidence, he said.

While acknowledging the failures of Police Department employees and the lack of proper oversight, Oliver said the decrepit condition of police headquarters precluded establishing a modern, efficient property room.

"We're under new management. We're under construction. We're being remodeled and that's going to be painful," Chief Oliver said. "We're not tolerating misconduct that was tolerated before."

Former Mayor Dennis Archer said the indictments of misconduct that occurred while he was mayor were troubling, but noted it was the Police Department that brought it to the attention of the FBI.

"This is a continuation of the department's attempts to cleanse itself of apparent wrongdoing," Archer said.

The nine who were charged

* John Earl Cole Sr., 50, of Detroit, a 24-veteran civilian employee of the Detroit Police Department, faces life in prison if convicted of money laundering and conspiracy to embezzle and distribute cocaine.

* David L. Cole Jr., 60, of Detroit, is the brother of Cole.

* Ernest D. Myatt Sr., 49, of Belleville is a lieutenant with the Michigan State Police and is a certified polygraph examiner.

* Anthony Lasenby, 33, of Detroit allegedly bought drugs and a stolen gun from Cole.

* Shirley Terry, 34, of Detroit is a friend of Cole Sr.'s who was a bank teller employed by Comerica bank.

* Cora L. Cole-Robinson, 74, of Detroit is Cole Sr.'s mother.

* Chontrice Cole, 28, is Cole Sr.'s daughter.

* Ida Mae Hall, 72, of Detroit is the former mother-in-law of Cole.

* Donald C. Hynes, 41, is a retired Detroit police officer and business associate of Cole Sr.

Nine people were indicted Wednesday on charges of stealing cocaine from the Detroit Police Department's evidence room, where drugs, cash and guns seized in arrests are kept. All but John Cole face 20 years in prison for money laundering. 

HEADLINE: MORGUE'S PROBE HAS LEFT SOME QUESTIONS;
ADMINISTRATORS AND SUPERVISORS DISAGREE OVER SEVERITY OF '95 EVIDENCE PROBLEM. 

Orange County's top administrator and top prosecutor claim a controversy over the morgue's handling of evidence in murder cases seven years ago is much ado about nothing.
Morgue supervisors who cleaned up the mess say otherwise. 

"I don't even want to put it in terms of an embarrassment. I'm embarrassed when I wear one black shoe and one blue shoe," said Carol Gross, office manager at the time for the Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner's Office. "This was more than an embarrassment. This put our credibility at high risk."

A three-month investigation of the morgue in 1995 concluded the evidence room "was in total disarray." Among other findings, the report said evidence was missing from 10 murder cases and 16 more homicide cases where lists of the evidence collected had been lost or destroyed.

A 66-page report of the county's 1995 investigation did not surface until last month and raised questions why lawyers defending suspects in the murder cases were not notified. The county ordered the investigation after $430 was stolen from a body at the morgue.

However, county Chairman Rich Crotty and State Attorney Lawson Lamar characterized Orlando Sentinel coverage of the investigation as "an attempt to make a mountain out of a molehill."

They say the investigation in 1995 by 11 members of the county's Office of Professional Standards, with the help of two sheriff's evidence specialists, was flawed. Based on conversations with county Health and Family Services Director Larry Jones, Crotty and Lamar said the missing evidence could have been found if morgue workers had been asked.

"The auditors failed to check the case files for an accounting of items that were 'missing' from the evidence bags. Those items were kept in a separate room," Crotty and Lamar wrote to the newspaper.

Thomas McDonald, who was the morgue's chief investigator in 1995, said the Office of Professional Standards had no way to track the missing evidence because there were no logbooks.

He and two assistants spent months in 1996 going through files at the morgue to find the records related to evidence in the 380 death cases identified by Professional Standards in its report. Of those cases, 96 were missing evidence sheets that identified what had been collected from the bodies.

"We had to make a log of everything. We had no log," said McDonald, who retired in 2000 after 26 years. "This was a massive project."

In the past two weeks, the Medical Examiner's Office says, it has found all but four pieces of evidence reported missing in the 10 murder cases. Lamar's office says that if anything important had been missing it would have been discovered during prosecution of those cases.

Gross, who retired in 2000 after 22 years at the morgue, said some of the missing items were identified in 1996 as having been released to police as a result of McDonald's search.
Corrective action as a result of the investigation included demoting the morgue's evidence supervisor and writing new policies, Gross said.

"If it wasn't major, there wouldn't have been such major changes," she said.

Conditions were actually worse than what the county investigation reported, according to Gross and McDonald.
For example, McDonald said, hundreds of tissue specimens from old autopsies were stored in shower stalls, stacked in hallways, left on top of freezers and almost any horizontal space.

"There were boxes of bones and jars of tissue. A lot of this stuff was unmarked. We didn't know what it was," McDonald said. "If you can't prove what it was, you can't keep it. You've got to destroy it."

Interviewed Thursday at the morgue, Orange-Osceola Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Shashi Gore said the tissue specimens dated back to the 1970s and included "unusual" hearts, lungs, spleens and other organs. When he took office in February 1996, he ordered the destruction of all tissues except from homicides and unfinished cases, he said.

Jones, who oversees morgue operations now as he did in 1995, discounted Gross and McDonald's accounts of conditions in the morgue seven years ago.

"They're not happy related to their employment," he said, without specifying why he said they were not credible.

McDonald retired after being accused of bias in hiring investigators, a complaint that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled unfounded, according to Professional Standards. Gross retired when her position was being phased out.

"I wasn't happy with my employment -- they didn't trust the right people," she said.

Sheri Blanton, the morgue's current administrator, and current Chief Investigator Bob Mundy said they didn't understand why county officials didn't request a criminal investigation of the thefts of cash from bodies seven years ago.

"If it happened today, we would ask the Sheriff's Office to come and complete an investigation," Blanton said. "Something obviously happened in 1995 and it was inexcusable."
Jones said a criminal investigation was not conducted because Professional Standards exonerated morgue employees.

Crotty promised to investigate further, if needed.

"My position is pretty simple," he said Thursday. "If this onion needs to be peeled back further, I'm willing to peel it back." 

HEADLINE: Bossier Parish deputy resigns after accident 

A Bossier Parish narcotics agent who ran off a highway in his unmarked sheriff's car last week resigned after a search of the vehicle found suspected undocumented drugs and drug paraphernalia.

An internal investigation has concluded resigned sheriff's Deputy Brian Keith, 31, did not follow office policy in the handling of evidence found inside the car, Bossier sheriff's spokesman Ed Baswell said Tuesday.

Keith may have purchased the suspected drugs as part of his undercover work, Baswell said. But a policy requires any such narcotics be recorded and stored in the office's evidence room, Baswell said. 

"We have strict guidelines regarding that. Evidence must be turned in in a timely manner."

Keith could land in hotter water if a separate ongoing investigation leads to criminal charges against him. A blood sample was drawn from Keith after he ran off Airline Drive in Bossier City on Oct. 15 to determine if he had drugs in his system. The sheriff's office still is awaiting conclusive results of a lab analysis of the blood.

The criminal investigation also is looking at whether Keith violated state laws covering the handling of evidence, evidence tampering and malfeasance in office, Baswell said.

Keith, who joined the sheriff's office in October 1995, resigned upon being informed he'd violated office policy. Keith couldn't be reached for comment.

Keith apparently was headed south on Airline Drive near East Texas Street about 10:45 p.m. Oct. 15 when he lost control of his sheriff's unit, Baswell said.

Bossier City police arrived at the one-car accident to find Keith shaking as if possibly having some type of seizure, a police report states. He was taken by the Bossier City Fire Department to WK Bossier Health Center but was not seriously hurt. No one else was injured.

"I want it understood," said Bossier Sheriff Larry Deen, "that I will, under no circumstances, tolerate the violation of drugs laws, whether the violation is committed by someone in law enforcement or a private citizen. That is why I ordered a thorough internal investigation and a no-holds-barred criminal investigation." 

HEADLINE: RIVIERA POLICE CHIEF WANTS SERGEANT TO BE PUNISHED 

Police Chief Clarence Williams III has recommended that Sgt. Shawn Casey be demoted to patrolman and suspended without pay for 10 days for allegedly keeping two prostitutes in an oceanfront Singer Island motel under the guise of undercover work.

Casey, 37, who has worked for the department for 10 years, denied to investigators that he had sex with the women or supplied them with any drugs, as alleged in June by the women's former pimp, according to a police report.

Casey couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday. 

But, as part of the internal affairs investigation, he told vice agent John Mammino that the women were his confidential informants and that he was working undercover cases with them, investigators said.

Sgt. Anthony Smith of the vice unit said he had no knowledge of Casey conducting an undercover operation and said he never authorized such an action.

Casey, who was a road patrol sergeant on the midnight shift, never advised his superior, Lt. Thomas Pettway, that he was conducting a covert operation, according to reports.

Investigators did verify that Casey made a cocaine possession arrest on Singer Island May 19, and Casey said that resulted from a tip from one of the women.

One of the women told investigators that while off-duty on June 3, Casey said he could help her escape from her pimp and would put her and the other woman up at the Canopy Palms Ramada Resort at 3800 N. Ocean Blvd. - a 126-room resort where rooms go for $99 to $199 a night, according to its Web site.

Casey said his reason for having the room in his name was because neither of the women had proper identification, according to a police report.

He is accused of misconduct, untruthfulness, association with criminals, and violating procedures on use of informants.

Casey is now working in the departmental evidence room.

A date for a hearing board review has not been set.

The hearing board's advisory recommendation will be sent to the police chief, who will make a final recommendation to City Manager William Wilkins. 

SECTION: CITY; Pg. 1B 

HEADLINE: Ex-Rock Hill officer faces more charges 

YORK - A former Rock Hill police officer was arrested Thursday on charges that he stole drugs from the police department's evidence room three days before he resigned in August.

Robin Matthew Davis, 47, of 2850 Ebinwood Road, Rock Hill, was arrested on charges of misconduct in office, possession of phenobarbital and possession of pentobarbital. State Law Enforcement Division agents and Davis' lawyer made arrangements for Davis to turn himself in to the York County Detention Center about 10:30 a.m. Thursday. 

Davis was released from the detention center at 11 a.m. after posting $ 10,000 bond. He could not be reached for comment.

SLED obtained warrants for Davis' arrest on Tuesday. 

He is accused of taking the two drugs - both are used as sedatives - on Aug. 6 from the police department's evidence room where he worked, according to the arrest warrants.

Davis, an officer since January 1990, resigned Aug. 9 after fielding accusations that he mishandled drug evidence and planned to use it to harm himself. Davis was arrested July 31 on charges that he set fire to his home in the Lesslie area.

An internal investigation followed his first arrest, and Davis was on work suspension the day he is accused of taking the drugs.

Davis had been working in the evidence room for several months. When the drugs were found missing, Chief Dave Fortson said he believed Davis intended to use them because of the stress brought on by the arson charges.

The internal audit revealed one drug was destroyed, and the other was returned to the evidence room. Another piece of evidence, police said, was found in Davis' marked sport utility vehicle.
Davis was the only officer who had access to the evidence room, which is now routinely checked by supervisors. 

HEADLINE: Three charged with theft from drug task force

Three Florida men charged with the theft of drugs and firearms from the Dublin-Laurens Drug Task Force office waived extradition Thursday.   A tip from a man arrested in Starke, Fla., three weeks ago provided the key  break in the case, which has gone unsolved for two years.

Arrested were Ricky Carl Norman, 39, Stephen Eugene Wilkerson, 39, and Ronald  Eric Sawyer, 32, all of Starke, according to Greg Harvey, assistant special  agent in charge of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation office in Eastman.   GBI agents and Laurens County sheriff's deputies arrested the men Wednesday  in Starke.

They were charged with burglary and interference with government property.  The men are accused of breaking into the drug task force office Oct. 21, 2000.  They allegedly broke in a door and ransacked the office, taking an undisclosed  amount of drugs and firearms.

Harvey said Sawyer is a former resident of Laurens County, which is  apparently how the men knew about the drug task force. He said there is no  reason to think they had any inside help.

"There's nothing to suggest that these guys were anything but opportunists,"  said Harvey.

The men are expected to be brought to Laurens County within a few days.  Harvey said additional charges are possible.   The special investigations unit with Florida's State Attorney's Office called local investigators about three weeks ago and told them a man arrested in Starke  provided information about the break-in. Harvey said the informant was not  involved in the break-in, but knew the suspects.

Chief assistant district attorney Peter Fred Larsen said "a few" drug cases  had to be dismissed because of the break-in, but he wasn't sure how many.   "In general it was not quite the catastrophe we thought it could be," Larsen  said. "Some of them had already confessed, so we didn't really need the drugs."   The arrests were particularly sweet to members of the drug task force, who  had to live with the knowledge that drugs they had worked to get off the street  ended up going back.   "My guys, they've been suffering the whole time this has been going on," said  sheriff's Capt. Grady Toney, the task force supervisor. "We're glad we got the  guys who did it."

Toney said changes made since the break-in will prevent such an event from  happening again. At the time. the drug task force office was located in a  building at the airport, which is unmanned at night. Now, the office is at the  Law Enforcement Center, and drugs and firearms are kept in a secure area  separate from the evidence room.   "The guy knew there wasn't really any security or anything," Toney said. "We  thought it was secure enough at the time, but it turned out not to be."

HEADLINE: DRUG CASE: Ex-police worker guilty

A former evidence handler for North Las Vegas police, once accused of stealing cocaine from the department's evidence vault, on Monday morning pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Under a plea agreement, Geneva Kincaid, the wife of a North Las Vegas police lieutenant, admitted to possession of a controlled substance with the understanding that the state would not pursue an embezzlement charge.

At least some of that drug ended up in the hands of her teenage son, authorities have alleged.
Before walking out of the courtroom, Kincaid offered disapproving smirks to a photographer who was snapping pictures of her for the first time in her criminal case. 

'Good people make mistakes,' her attorney, Robert Lucherini, said later. 'This is an example of a good person who made a bad mistake.

The plea agreement recommended that Kincaid be placed on probation and that she enter a drug rehabilitation program. If she completes the requirements, the case against her will be dismissed. District Attorney Stewart Bell said Monday that Kincaid is a nonviolent offender with no prior criminal history. He said the goal of prosecutors in entering the plea agreement was to ensure Kincaid no longer has access to such a trusted position in law enforcement. 'Our primary concern was to get her out of her position at the Police Department so that this could not happen again,' Bell said.

Kincaid resigned from her position shortly after the details of the criminal case surfaced. The matter evolved from a graffiti investigation in Henderson.

According to court records, police were searching for Kincaid's son, Joshua, when they went to an apartment near Windmill and Green Valley parkways on Feb. 24 with a warrant. Police knocked and heard someone inside, but no one opened the door. Officers kicked the door down and found Joshua Kincaid inside. They found marijuana in the residence and cocaine in the toilet, according to police reports. '(Joshua) Kincaid stated that he was attempting to flush the drugs down the toilet but was unable to get the toilet to operate,' one police report said.

The reports mentioned nothing about the young man's mother, but prosecutors later said that when questioned, the boy said he took the drugs out of his mother's purse.

Henderson police passed the information on to North Las Vegas, where Geneva Kincaid worked as a civilian in the police evidence vault. A police investigation determined that 57.5 grams of cocaine were missing from the vault, leading to the felony charges against Geneva Kincaid.

Unlike many others who face felony drug charges, she was not taken to jail immediately. Instead, she was given a summons.

Bell said the issuing of a summons in a case such as Kincaid's is not unusual. He said that when a lawyer guarantees a nonviolent offender's appearance in court, authorities often will issue a summons, allowing the defendant to walk through booking at jail.

Kincaid's husband, North Las Vegas police Lt. Mike Kincaid, had no inkling of the crime, said North Las Vegas police and the district attorney's office.

Earlier this year, Joshua Kincaid pleaded guilty to possession of the drug with intent to sell and was given a suspended prison sentence in the courtroom of District Judge Donald Mosley, court records showed.

In court Monday, Geneva Kincaid, walking with a cane, appeared before District Judge Joseph Bonaventure. When asked questions by Bonaventure, Kincaid responded in an inaudible voice.
That bothered Bonaventure, who said he could not hear what the defendant was saying. 
Lucherini said that his client has severe back problems. 'I've got a bad back too, but that doesn't affect my hearing,' the judge responded. Geneva Kincaid then spoke loudly enough for her guilty plea to be heard. 

Lucherini, when interviewed late Monday afternoon, said his client was not involved in the distribution of the drug.

'She was not selling or dealing narcotics in any form or manner,' Lucherini said.

HEADLINE: Tough-on-crime message becomes joke in North Las Vegas

It's good to see the North Las Vegas Police Department is on the cutting edge of the war on drugs.

From the look of things, I'd say they've just about declared victory. Their approach is unconventional, to be sure. Some would call it controversial. But it's reassuring to know the department is leading by example.   The plan? To decriminalize the passe felonies of cocaine possession and embezzlement -- at least, where police employees are concerned.

Skeptics among you may wonder whether former NLV police evidence handler Geneva Kincaid received feather bed treatment after she was suspected of stealing cocaine from the department's evidence locker.

On Monday, Kincaid received probation in Judge Joseph Bonaventure's court after District Attorney Stewart Bell agreed to a plea bargain for the first-time drug offender. The obvious embezzlement was forgiven, perhaps out of a sense the poor woman had suffered enough.

They did, after all, make her appear in court on a Monday. And that wrist slap? There's a real potential for bruising.

I am beginning to see Kincaid's sentence not as an embarrassing miscarriage of justice that stinks of good ol' boy cronyism, but as a signal that it's party time in Northtown -- and the coppers are buyin'. The fact she stole the cocaine, officially 57.5 grams, from an evidence locker?

Don't call it theft or embezzlement. Call it redistribution. The fact some of the drugs wound up in the hands of her teenage son, who was arrested and convicted in a separate drug case? Don't call it drug dealing, or conspiracy to sell cocaine, or endangering a minor. Call it chemistry homework gone awry.

And the fact she was never arrested, booked, or jailed, but casually received a summons for a court appearance? Don't call it an uncommon courtesy given to a police department employee who is married to a traffic bureau lieutenant. Think of it as a small step in reducing jail overcrowding.

Given its accepting stance on cocaine possession and theft, I expect the North Las Vegas Police Department to hurry and unanimously endorse the Question 9 marijuana initiative. I can almost see them posing for a group photograph in their 'It's no crime to have a good time' T-shirts.
For the record, I called the department's narcotics bureau to see whether its hard-working detectives were cleaning out their offices now that cocaine possession was no longer a big deal. I also thought I might ask them whether they were embarrassed by the Kincaid affair. I was directed to the public information officer, who hasn't yet mastered those tricky seven-digit dialing skills. Undaunted, I also called Chief Mark Paresi's office seeking comment. Surely the chief would want to discuss the merits of the new law enforcement techniques in use. Alas, no luck.
Perhaps they were all too busy tearing up every recent cocaine possession and theft cases in the system now that those laws aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Yeah, sure they were.
Maybe they were down at the North Las Vegas lockup turning loose all the street-corner dopers and petty thieves who are no longer to be considered among the criminal element now that those charges are meaningless. Yes, that must be it.

Whatever they were doing, not one badge-carrying member of that fraternity voiced a syllable of discontent that one of their own had been cradled in the arms of the system. Imagine all the money they'll save by no longer worrying about sending a tough-on-crime message to the beleaguered citizenry.

For that matter, it will probably come as a relief to every lowly supermarket cashier and blackjack dealer that the police department no longer frets over embezzlement. Hey, everyone makes mistakes. Don't worry; we'll write when it's time for court. Heard the one about the public employee who was actually punished for violating the people's trust?

Not lately you haven't.

That joke went out with spats and Vaudeville.

Meanwhile, congratulations to the North Las Vegas Police Department.

They've just about got that crime thing licked.

HEADLINE: JUDGE SKEPTICAL OF EX-POLICE CHIEF'S LAWSUIT;
JUDGE JAMES TURK PICKS APART MANY ALLEGATIONS MADE BY FOUTZ 

Vinton's former police chief, who says the town illegally forced him out during a grand jury investigation that documented corruption in his department, found a skeptical audience Tuesday in the federal judge hearing his lawsuit. 

With repeated questions and comments, Judge James Turk picked apart many of the allegations made by Ricky Foutz, who resigned in 1999 during an investigation into mishandled funds and guns and drugs missing from the department's evidence room.

Foutz's suit alleges he was forced to retire without due process, that his office was illegally searched, that town officials defamed him, that they conspired against him, and that all those actions caused him emotional distress. 

But isn't it true, Turk asked during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Roanoke, that Foutz was an at-will employee who served at the pleasure of town council? If that's the case, Foutz had no constitutional due process protections.

"It seems to me that he's an at-will employee," Turk told Foutz's attorney, Philip Coulter. "But I'm not deciding that now," he said, adding that he will rule later on the town's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The judge went on to question whether town officials defamed Foutz in the public comments about the grand jury investigation, as the lawsuit claims, and whether they conspired to oust him illegally.

"I think your conspiracy complaint would have a lot more force behind it if he had gotten a clean bill of health from the grand jury report," Turk said. But in fact, he said, the report was so damning that Foutz was lucky that it didn't call for his indictment.

Although no criminal charges resulted from the investigation, the grand jury was highly critical of Foutz and his former lieutenant, Bill Brown. Brown also resigned as a result of the investigation, which began when an outgoing police dispatcher voiced concerns during an exit interview.
As for the claim that Vinton officials illegally searched Foutz's office, town attorney Jim Guynn said the office was entered after Foutz had stepped down - and only to look for records that had been subpoenaed by the grand jury.

Turk's skepticism did not keep Coulter from arguing about how poorly the town had treated his client. "Ricky is a great man," he said.

"I'm sure he is," Turk interjected.

"But he has been defamed," Coulter said, "in such a way that he has never had the opportunity to clear his name."

HEADLINE: New unit to review unsolved murders; KC squad to check for missing evidence 

Kansas City Police Chief Rick Easley said Tuesday he planned to  form a new homicide squad to determine whether vital evidence is  missing in any of the city's 858 unsolved homicides dating back to  1976. 

Besides looking for missing evidence, Easley said, the  six-detective squad will try to solve old cases. The cold-case squad  of experienced homicide detectives will start working in mid-December  and will last indefinitely.  Tuesday's announcement came after an internal audit completed  last month showed that police had lost or mistakenly destroyed  property or evidence in eight homicide cases.   Easley presented the plan to a Board of Police Commissioners  meeting, and the board members supported the decision. 

"I think this is definitely warranted and a good use of  manpower," said Stacey Daniels-Young, the board president.  "Anything we can do to make the public feel more secure is  important." 
Daniels-Young said there wasn't much support on the board or in  the department for using resources solely to check whether evidence  existed in old cases. 

But she said Easley's idea for a squad that would try to solve  old cases convinced the board members about the plan.  "Their focus is solving old cases," she said. "If they find  missing evidence along the way, we'll deal with that as it comes."  Board member Karl Zobrist said Easley's decision would "restore  the faith of the community" and make the best use of the  department's resources. 

The Jackson County prosecutor's office supported the effort.  "We believe the proper procedures to protect evidence are in  effect," said Phil LeVota, an assistant Jackson County prosecutor  who tries homicide cases. "But if there is missing evidence in any  of our cases, action by the police to identify it as soon as possible  is a good thing." 

Once the effort begins, Easley said, investigators will check the  most recent cases first and then work on older ones. He said cases  with no real chance of being solved might be skipped in favor of more  solvable cases, because it was unlikely police could thoroughly  investigate and check for evidence in all 858 cases. 

From 1976 to 2001, the department cleared 77 percent of its  homicide cases, and the 858 represent the unsolved cases. The  national clearance rate in 2001 was 62.4 percent for murder,  according to the most recent FBI statistics. 

The earlier audit looked into 57 homicides in which suspects had  been charged and were awaiting trial.  Easley launched the audit in May after Jackson County prosecutors  dismissed charges in one case and lost another case, in part because  of missing evidence. 

Evidence was mistakenly destroyed in those two cases and another  one when a homicide sergeant failed to follow proper procedures. That  sergeant has been transferred and is the focus of an internal  investigation. 

In four other cases, police do not know how evidence disappeared.  The eighth case was initially called a suicide, but homicide charges  were later filed. To prevent similar problems, police now keep  evidence in suicides longer. 

The internal audit included six recommendations to improve  handling of property and evidence. Capt. Christine Laughlin, who  supervised the audit, told board members all of the recommendations  had been implemented or addressed. 

Laughlin said the changes would "significantly diminish" the  chance that property or evidence would be mishandled in the future.  "I'm not going to say it's never going to happen again," she 
said. "We're dealing with humans." 

Daniels-Young said she was still concerned that workers at the  property and evidence warehouse wrote case numbers on evidence bags  by hand, increasing the chance for numbers to be transposed or  misread. 

"I know with my handwriting, my two looks like a seven," she  said. "Can we see if other departments have resolved this sort of  problem through other means?" 

Laughlin said that other departments use bar code systems and  that the department should have that capability when a new computer  system is implemented in about 18 months. 

Because the earlier audit looked only at cases with identified  suspects, police officials are still unsure of the scope of lost or  destroyed evidence. Easley said that's why an additional inquiry was  needed into the 858 unsolved homicides. 

"Issues have been raised," he said. "What we're doing is just  the right thing to do. ... We're going to be open-minded."  J.T. Brown of Move Up, an anti-crime community group, praised the  Police Department's plan to delve more deeply into homicide cases.  "The chief is headed in the right direction," said Brown, the  executive director of the group. 

Mayor Kay Barnes, a member of the police board, said she had a  great deal of confidence in Easley and his command staff.  "I think they're doing the right thing, and when this task is  completed, it's going to take us a long way," she said.  The Police Department should receive credit for taking  responsibility for its previous problems with evidence, Barnes said.