HEADLINE: Bartlett horse breeder still facing arson charges

BODY: A flood failed to wash away charges of arson against Bartlett horse breeder Frank Jayne Jr., but it may weaken his prosecution. 

Jayne, 68, and his former business partner, Charles R. Sundstrom, 44, of Wonder Lake, were charged last October with an arson that occurred 22 years ago at Jayne's home, Jaynesway Farms, on Route 59 near Army Trail Road. 

Defense attorneys for Jayne and Sundstrom tried to get the charges dismissed Thursday because a storage room flood destroyed police evidence. 

Gone, defense attorneys said, are the 9-gallon containers of debris left from the home. 

Gone, too, are the pictures that prosecutors say showed craters outside the front door caused by an accelerant and burn patterns in the back of the house consistent with fire running along a trail of gasoline. 

Gone is the mattress prosecutors say was soaked with gasoline. 

"The physical evidence of arson has been destroyed," said Barry Spevack, Sundstrom's attorney. "Everything I could have used to cross-examine the state has been destroyed." 

DuPage County Circuit Court Judge George Bakalis ruled that the missing evidence wasn't enough to dismiss the charges. On July 31, the court will hear a request from Jayne's attorney for a change of venue because of pretrial publicity and then set a date to convene the jury. 

At the trial, the prosecution won't be allowed to talk about the missing evidence. The defense can use the void to point out police investigators have nothing to back up their claims of what they saw at the fire 22 years ago, Bakalis said. 

Prosecutor Steven Knight said he plans to show that valuable items were removed from the house before it caught fire and that it was covered in gasoline. Knight also said he has a witness who claims to have overheard the men plotting the fire and saw them carrying gas cans to the house. 

Spevack argued that testimony would prejudice the trial because Jayne's stepfather, who could discount the conversation, has died. 

Bakalis discounted any argument of what dead witnesses could have done to bolster Jayne's defense as mere speculation.

HEADLINE: Keizer changes found-items rule - There is not enough money or space for storage, police say.

KEIZER - The Keizer Police Department no longer wants to take that soiled sleeping bag found by the side of the road or that rusty old bike frame left in a parking lot.

After serving as the city's lost-and-found service for almost 20 years, the department has decided it just doesn't have any more room. 

A tight budget and lack of storage space have led Keizer police to change their policy for accepting found property.

Starting this month, they will take only items that meet one of these criteria: They are dangerous or hazardous, they have identifying information on them, they are worth more than $500, they are confirmed stolen, or they may be connected to a crime and considered potential evidence.

"We just can't afford to spend our time being a storekeeper of all this property that for the most part is worthless," Sgt. Jeff Kuhns said.

Rita Powers, who supervises Keizer's property and evidence room, said the department is following Salem's lead with this policy. The Salem Police Department decided in March to accept only certain found items because of an overstuffed property room and a tight budget.

Keizer police currently have about 8,000 items stored in a space that used to be a janitorial closet. Last year, they took in 221 items, most of which had little value and no identifying information. Only four of 65 bicycles collected were returned to their owners.

Sometimes the department has to rent extra storage space when handling a major case with multiple items of evidence, Powers said.

If a resident finds an item that doesn't meet the police criteria, he or she can keep it, dispose of it or donate it. If it is worth more than $100, the law requires finders to contact the county clerk and advertise in the paper if they want to keep it.

Powers recommended property owners put a driver's license number on their belongings so that if the items get lost, they can be returned. She also encouraged owners to keep a record of the serial numbers of their items.

HEADLINE: Prosecutors say evidence room flap not relevant to death penalty case

DATELINE: TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.

Federal prosecutors say testimony about unauthorized people entering an FBI evidence room should not be allowed in the trials of two Cadillac brothers accused of a drug-related slaying.

Prosecutors say four unauthorized people were allowed into the Traverse City FBI office where evidence in the case of Robert N. Ostrander, 29, and Michael P. Ostrander, 25, was kept.

The Ostranders both are charged with murder in the death of Hansle Andrews. Acting on a tip, FBI agents found the victim's body in July 2001, buried about 6 feet deep in a heavily wooded area of the Manistee National Forest. 

In November 2001, two Traverse City criminal defense attorneys and their clients were allowed into the evidence room containing the shovel authorities say was used to dig Andrews' grave and drugs they say belonged to Andrews, the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported in a Saturday story.

Prosecutors acknowledge that allowing the people into the room was a violation of FBI policy. But in a motion filed last week in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, prosecutor Timothy VerHey argued the issue should not be brought up during the Ostranders' trials because it could confuse a jury with information unrelated to the murder case.

FBI security specialists investigated after the violation was discovered and found that none of the evidence in the Ostranders' cases had been tampered with. Although capital punishment is outlawed in Michigan, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the Ostranders under a law that makes the it available for murder cases tried in federal court, especially when a killing is linked to drug trafficking or occurs on federal property.

Prosecutors said Andrews, 22, who lived in Kalkaska County, earned money by working construction jobs in the Traverse City area and by selling drugs.

In August 2000, Robert Ostrander invited him to go with him to Grand Rapids to buy marijuana.  Instead, the men traveled to the Manistee National Forest outside Cadillac, where Andrews was robbed, shot three times and buried in a crude grave that had already been dug, the government said. Michael Ostrander also was there and distracted the victim while his brother shot him, authorities said.

HEADLINE: POLICE LAX IN HANDLING OF EVIDENCE, AUDIT SAYS

Poor record-keeping and lax evidence handling have left cash, weapons and drugs vulnerable to theft at Allegheny County police headquarters, according to an audit released yesterday.

County Controller Dan Onorato's auditors could not find 16 items that police had seized as evidence in criminal cases. "It's ripe for abuse," he said.  The missing items included ammunition, but Onorato's report did not offer a complete list of all the missing evidence.

The county police evidence room, located at the department's Point Breeze headquarters, receives more than 100,000 items annually and holds more than 1 million items. Numerous police departments across the country have been rocked by scandals involving thefts of drugs and cash.

But county police Superintendent Kenneth Fulton said yesterday that his department has improved its record-keeping since Onorato's auditors visited. The chief improvement is a new computer system that affixes a bar code to evidence. "There is very little chance of any errors," Fulton said.

Onorato commended the police for instituting the bar code system, but cautioned that such technology will only be effective if the department uses it properly.

The 16 missing items fell into two categories. Ten disappeared in transfers between the evidence room and the county coroner's crime lab. The other six -- two videotapes and four articles of clothing -- could not be found in the evidence room, even though records showed they should have been there. The police explained that the videotapes were sent to the district attorney and the clothes were returned to their owner.

The 16 missing items came from a sample of 99 evidence files that the auditors examined. Most files contained multiple items.

Onorato's auditors also found that the police failed to maintain proper security when disposing of no-longer-needed drugs and weapons. When accumulated drugs and guns were destroyed last July, the police did not document the destruction of each item.

The auditors also learned that the police do not test samples of seized drugs to ensure that no employee has, for example, stolen cocaine and replaced it with baby powder.

Fulton, in a written response to Onorato, stated that the police will document the destruction of evidence, but advised that the crime lab's backlog makes it unfeasible to test samples of stored drugs.

HEADLINE: Man Goes to Court to Get His Drugs Back

DATELINE: CHOWCHILLA, Calif.

Usually people go to court to fight a drug rap. But one man says he's going to court to get his drugs back. 

Michael Celli, 42, who had a pound of medicinal marijuana seized by police, says he needs it to ease chronic migraine headaches. Celli had hoped to receive his stash on Monday after a judge ordered Chowchilla police to return it, citing a 1996 California referendum legalizing marijuana for medicinal use.

But Police Chief John Robinson called the Drug Enforcement Agency instead. The freezer bag full of pot will remain in an evidence locker until federal agents pick it up. "It was suggested by the district attorney's office to confer with the DEA," Robinson said. "If I release it to (Celli), I can be arrested for a felony, which is trafficking and distributing."

Celli was booked on suspicion of drug possession with intent to sell while being issued a citation for illegal parking April 25. He said an officer laughed when he showed a card to prove he had medical reasons for using marijuana.

Robinson said Celli had "one of these cards you can buy on the street corner in San Francisco," not a doctor's prescription as mandated by state law. Robinson also said he's following a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision that declared the state medical marijuana statute does not take precedence over federal drug laws.

HEADLINE: Examiner thinks detective slain

Former police Detective Robbin Cooper was likely lying in bed when he was shot and killed more than 20 years ago, the state's Medical Examiner testified Wednesday.

"I think it's possible he was sitting," Dr. Bruce Levy told the court. "In my opinion, he was lying down." 

Levy's testimony came at a day-long evidence and motions hearing in the first-degree murder case of Wanda Gail Bodry. At the time of the Feb. 6, 1983, shooting, she was married to Cooper, a Clarksville Police detective.

The police detective's body was exhumed and an autopsy was performed in September after the case was reopened at the request of District Attorney General John Carney.

Levy stood his ground Wednesday that Cooper's death was a homicide during a barrage of questions from defense attorney Peter Olson. He peppered Levy with questions about the shooting: if it could have been a suicide and whether Cooper's high percent blood-alcohol level could have played a role.

Levy testified his reasoning for contending the death was homicide includes: Cooper was lying face up on the bed when police found him, the gun was found on the floor beneath his left hand despite him being right-handed and the gunshot wound was to the abdomen.

"Greater that 85 percent of men, intoxicated or not, who shoot themselves, shoot themselves in the head," Levy testified.

However, Levy told the court he knew the weapon, a Smith and Wesson .357 Magnum, had been moved during the investigation although he didn't indicate the significance of it being in a different location. "It was my understanding, it had been moved prior to the (crime scene) photographs being taken," he said.

Also at issue leading up to a trial is missing evidence in the 20-year-old case. Among the missing items are swabs with gun powder residue, Cooper's blood-stained shirts, audio tape from the 911 call Bodry made in 1983 and recordings of a coroner's inquest, also held in 1983.

Further complicating the matter, police in 1983 used cotton swabs with wooden sticks to test for gunshot residue on Cooper's hands. However, the wood contaminates any forensic testing, a TBI Special Agent testified Wednesday. "Wooden-shafted swabs are contaminated and should never be used to determine if gunshot residue is present," Special Agent Russell Davis testified.

Gunshot residue on Cooper's hand could indicate he was holding the gun when it was fired, Levy testified. It could mean he committed suicide, but would not be conclusive because it could also mean his hand was simply very near the firing gun. Defense attorneys also want a transcript of the inquest excluded from evidence because the original tapes have been lost.

So at Wednesday's hearing, three members of the Feb. 25, 1983, coroner's inquest were called to testify. The witnesses, called by prosecutors, were unable to say whether a copy of the inquest transcript was verbatim of what was said more than 20 years ago. A cause of death could not be determined during the inquest.

Today, additional evidence, including more testimony from Levy, is expected to be presented.  No trial date has been set in Bodry's case.

HEADLINE: Standards, autonomy sought for nation's crime labs 

BY: Robert Tanner 

Series of scandals, probes and new questions about old convictions are casting doubt on one of the foundations of the modern criminal-justice system: the crime lab. 

Over the past year, laboratories at the FBI and in several states have come under new scrutiny, resulting in criminal investigations, findings of mismanagement and accusations of falsifying evidence. So far, however, only a few convictions have been overturned. 

Lab directors defend their work and their standards. But critics say the flurry of problems shows a need for independent oversight and for labs to be separated from the criminal-justice departments where most are based. 

"There's major things that need to be changed. When people are dealing with someone's life, they need to be more careful... " said Carol Batie, of Houston, whose son Josiah Sutton was convicted of rape, largely on DNA evidence. A new analysis of that same evidence has now excluded Sutton. 

He got a second chance after an audit found significant problems in the DNA section of the Houston Police Department's crime lab, including undertrained staff, a leaky roof that may have contaminated evidence, and possible mishandling of evidence. 

In Sutton's case and more than 300 others, evidence was sent back for retests. Sutton was released on bond, and the district attorney has recommended a pardon. 

Sutton declared back in March, "I was guilty until proven innocent." 

It's essential that the labs' work can be trusted, agree critics and the forensic scientists who run tests on DNA, blood, fingerprints, clothing and more. 
Still, problems keep cropping up: 

• In Orlando, Fla., an analyst with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement admitted falsifying results of a test designed to check his work and his lab's ability to analyze DNA. The state said that his transgression did not affect any criminal cases and that it would pay for retests where he was lead analyst. 

• In Phoenix, Ariz., technicians overstated the likelihood that DNA linked suspects to crimes in nine criminal cases, including a homicide case that brought a conviction and two other investigations in which suspects pleaded guilty. Police said none of the cases hinged on DNA tests. 

• In Fort Worth, Texas, a senior forensic scientist was fired and police crime-lab operations were suspended after a review of cases by outside DNA experts. Nearly 100 cases are slated for review. 

• In Kansas, mislabeling of a blood sample 12 years ago freed a man who has been charged in a string of subsequent rapes and a 2002 murder. The director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation apologized and said new safeguards were planned. 

• In Montana and West Virginia, the testimony of top lab officials has been questioned. Former Montana state crime-lab director Arnold Melnikoff's testimony is under review. Fred Zain, a former West Virginia serology director, was facing fraud charges over his testimony when he died last year. 

• The FBI's inspector general, an independent Justice Department watchdog, is investigating practices of the FBI lab unit that analyzes DNA. A lab technician recently resigned while under investigation for failing to follow required scientific procedures, and a second lab employee was indicted for false testimony. 

Melnikoff's testimony helped convict Jimmy Ray Bromgard of rape about 15 years ago, in Billings, Mont. But Bromgard was proved innocent with new DNA evidence and Melnikoff's entire career — he began work in Washington in 1989 — began to be scrutinized. 

In November 2001, Michael Hoover, a forensic scientist working in the Washington State Patrol crime lab in Marysville, was sentenced to 11 months in jail after admitting to taking and using heroin from lab samples to ease his back pain. 

Prosecutors examined Hoover's cases and dismissed or declined to file charges in more than 100 cases. His tampering had broken strict legal rules about accounting for drug evidence. 

And in September 2000, one of Washington state's most senior DNA experts, Dr. John Brown, resigned from the crime lab before an internal investigation into whether he mishandled evidence had been completed. 

"Labs are run by human beings," said James Alan Fox, a criminal-justice professor at Northeastern University. "Essentially, the management of labs may not be as foolproof as the science of forensics." 

Better standards, better funding, better management — all may be necessary to ensure lab results don't wrongly convince juries of guilt, Fox said. 

"They operate like the wild West," said Peter Neufeld, a defense attorney and one of the founders of the Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, a group behind many of the DNA-based exonerations across the country in recent years. 

Neufeld runs down a list of problems: Standards are voluntary and set up by crime-lab directors themselves; too few labs follow the standards; and the overwhelming majority of labs are too closely connected to police departments or prosecutors. 

"For too long, it's been run by people who are in law enforcement, as opposed to people who are scientists," he said. 

Law-enforcement officials and lab directors said that the individual problems in recent months are taken seriously but that sweeping criticisms are misguided. 

"There are always bad actors in any profession," said Paul Ferrara, director of the Virginia Division of Forensic Science. "The difference is that our mistakes do not get buried." 

The best corrective, said Ferrara and others, is for every lab to be accredited under a system set up by crime-lab directors, so their practices are inspected and evaluated by independent inspectors. 

But few states require accreditation, and meeting those standards can be costly. Of 455 larger crime labs across the country, 225 are accredited, said Ralph Keaton, executive director of the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors, Laboratory Accreditation Board. 

Lab directors dismiss the idea that their independence could be compromised by financial or supervisory links to police or prosecutors. Instead, some questioned the agenda of their critics. 

"The defense community would like to discredit laboratories wherever they can," Ferrara said. 

"Part of what we're seeing is a conscious effort to try to shake the public's confidence in forensic technology. 

"I've been in this business 32 years. The quality and accuracy and reliability and objectivity of forensic science is better today than it ever has been," he said. 

But critics say that the more problems that are uncovered, the more troubling doubts rattle the whole criminal-justice system. 

"Let me tell you, it even is putting doubts in jurors' minds in cases where there shouldn't be much doubt," said defense lawyer Bob Wicoff in Houston, who handled Josiah Sutton's case. "It undercuts everyone's faith in the system." 

HEADLINE: Keansburg cops hearing resume Town renews case vs. suspended officers

HAZLET - After a two-month hiatus, hearings for three suspended senior Keansburg police officers who want their jobs back resumed yesterday with further testimony by Gary F. Stowell, the investigator whose charges led to the suspensions.

Administrative Law Judge Anthony T. Bruno is hearing the Civil Service appeals simultaneously for the state Merit System Board of Chief Raymond B. O'Hare, Deputy Chief James K. Pigott and Inspector Joseph A. Auer, all suspended in spring of last year without pay.

Stowell, a lawyer and former police chief in Winslow Township, Camden County, was hired by the Keansburg Borough Council in 2001 to investigate the department, an assessment that led to the suspension of the three officers on varied charges of misconduct, incompetence and insubordination. 

Questioned yesterday by his law partners, Yaron Helmer and Todd Gelfand, who are representing the borough, Stowell said he received a call in May 2001 from then-Borough Manager Suzanne M. Veitengruber, who said she was "having difficulty with the chief of police."
Stowell said Veitengruber told him that O'Hare acted "like Boss Hogg and had a stranglehold on the town." Hogg was the "meanest man in Hazzard County" in the old "Dukes of Hazzard" television series. Stowell said he found the department marred by slipshod records and an evidence locker that was "in a shambles." Reiterating earlier testimony, he accused the chief of promoting his cronies, giving days off to officers who would go drinking with him, asking officers to do work on his house on borough time and failing to have his men take required firearms tests or keep up their first aid qualifications.

Gelfand opened yesterday's session with charges that O'Hare had misused the powers of his office by sending out fund-raising letters for the Sisters of Mercy, based at St. Ann's Catholic Church in Keansburg and for then-Mayor George Kauffmann Jr. on the police chief's letterhead.
"He's the one who brought politics into (the chief's) office, long before these people (the current Borough Council) took office," Gelfand said. But Bruno said O'Hare already had been disciplined for the letters by the borough. "He was told to stop it," the judge said. "What gives the borough a chance to bite the apple a second time?"

Gelfand argued that the letter for the Sisters of Mercy fund drive was a separate solicitation, for which O'Hare was not disciplined. O'Hare's "misuse of office has been in the borough's case since the beginning," Gelfand said. Bruno said the lawyers could "tack it on" at the end of the case, but refused to add the charge to the ongoing hearings, saying they have "already gone on longer than anyone anticipated." The hearings have been held off and on since late March. They will continue tomorrow and will resume at 9 a.m. Monday in the Hazlet Municipal Court. Gelfand reminded the court yesterday that the borough had opposed the simultaneous trials.

But Bruno said the alternative would be "three separate hearings at taxpayers' expense," with the same witnesses and the same questions.  "We're trying to save time and taxpayers' money," he said.

HEADLINE: AUDIT DETAILS WRONGDOING IN SHERIFF'S OFFICE;
MURPHY USED MONEY TAKEN FROM EVIDENCE ENVELOPES, IT SAYS

St. Louis Sheriff James Murphy's office violated Missouri law by cleaning out money from evidence envelopes, opening secret bank accounts and spending money without proper approval, a state audit reported Thursday.

In addition, Murphy's office overbilled the state for moving prisoners, failed to keep track of evidence and improperly sold state-owned property, the audit says.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill stressed that none of the laws Murphy broke would result in criminal penalties. "I'm not saying what he did was right, I'm saying that it was not criminal," McCaskill said. "You can make them stop, but you cannot charge them with a crime." 

McCaskill released the audit in a late-morning news conference. Gov. Bob Holden had ordered her to conduct the audit last August, immediately after a three-part Post-Dispatch series detailed many problems in the sheriff's office.

McCaskill characterized some bookkeeping practices in the sheriff's office as "a mess." As a result, she said, her auditors were unable to ensure that the sheriff had accounted for all of the money and property under his control, such as jewelry. "It is certainly possible that somebody pocketed money," McCaskill said. "But we have no evidence to indicate that."

The sheriff, who is elected, holds one of the city's independent county offices and is autonomous in running its day-to-day operations, including hiring. The office delivers court papers, secures city courthouses, transports prisoners and issues gun permits to citizens.

Murphy was out of town on vacation on Thursday, but released a prepared statement saying he will comply with the audit findings. Murphy, however, steadfastly defended his management of the office.

"A good audit is like a prostate exam," Murphy's statement said, "it's uncomfortable, you don't look forward to it, but you hope when its over you get a clean bill of health and have prevented more serious problems from developing in the future."

In his statement, Murphy said he urged the governor to audit the department in late August. Holden - at the urging of Mayor Francis Slay - had ordered the audit on Aug. 17, just one day after the newspaper series concluded.

At the news conference, former appellate judge and lawyer James Dowd def ended Murphy's office. He said he was working for free as a liaison between Murphy, McCaskill and the city circuit judges to whom Murphy reports.

Dowd said that he believed that Murphy had always spent the department money wisely.
"I think Jim Murphy's failing was that he believed everyone in his office was working as hard as he was," Dowd said. The audit verified information in previous Post-Dispatch stories that reported Murphy:

• * Failed to turn over more than $500,000 in cash that had been sitting in envelopes in the department's evidence locker for years, as required by law. The audit put the figure at more than $600,000. City and state officials are in a legal battle to decide who gets the cash.
• * Paid two deputies a $140 monthly car allowance intended only for city workers who use their own automobiles in the line of duty - even though both deputies had free city cars with free maintenance and gas.
• * Allowed 15 deputies who guard courtrooms and transport prisoners to continue to carry their firearms - on and off duty - even though they had failed to pass the firearms qualification test at the St. Louis Police Department.
• * Continued to pay at least three deputies full-time pay to serve court papers for the sheriff's office, even though years earlier they had moved on to other full-time careers. 

Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce said Thursday that a grand jury investigation into the alleged double dipping by those deputies is ongoing. She said that she had not read the entire audit, but that she knew of nothing new in the audit that would warrant a "criminal investigation."

The audit reports that, in some instances, Murphy resisted efforts by auditors to get to the records. Most disconcerting for the auditors was Murphy's reluctance to say how he spent $216,304 that had been removed without a court order, as state law requires, from the department's evidence locker and put in a secret bank account.

After prodding by the auditors, Murphy produced records showing he spent the money on uniforms, training, equipment, the sheriff's attorney, handguns, badges and cell phones. But the department could offer no proof that any of the purchases had been put out for public bid or had been approved by the city comptroller, as spelled out in the law.

In one case in November 1991, $1,363 was withdrawn from the secret account but there was no record on how it was spent. In addition, the sheriff took $69,117 out of evidence and used it to buy six cashier's checks to pay for various items such as a $30,980 panic alarm system for the judges.

Because of insufficient paperwork, auditors could not find out what happened to $17,943 from 125 evidence envelopes that were either missing or empty. Most had been received between 1993 and 1995. In his response, the sheriff blamed the missing money on a former police officer who was convicted of stealing $64,854 from the property room. The officer had not been accused of taking the $17,943 in question.

McCaskill said that there was no way to figure out what happened to every piece of evidence because the sheriff's department did not have a proper tracking system.

She reported that 1,500 rifles and shotguns were in evidence and needed to be destroyed under court order. 

Selling land for back taxes

The audit criticized how the department kept track of city money when it sold land with past-due tax bills. The audit found that since 1997, the sheriff collected $400,000 in land sales that never made it to the city collector, as required, and overpaid about $270,000 to the collector.

"It was a case of the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing," McCaskill said.

Murphy countered by saying that his department "does not have a certified public accountant in its employ," and therefore he is unable to set up proper accounting procedures.

McCaskill said Murphy sold two pieces of property owned by the state in May 2001. By law, governmental bodies such as the state do not pay property taxes. Therefore, state-owned property cannot be sold in a sheriff's land sale for failure to pay taxes.

The sheriff had mailed a notice to a long-shuttered attorney general's office in St. Louis and did not take note when the mail was returned.

McCaskill said she is now urging the state to reclaim the property.

"Clearly, the sheriff's office needs to be able to find the attorney general's office," McCaskill said.

Overcharging for prisoner transfers

McCaskill's auditors found that from July 1, 2000, to June 30 last year, Murphy overbilled the state at least $26,444 for prisoner transportation costs. Each day, sheriff's deputies go out and deliver and retrieve prisoners from prisons across the state. State taxpayers pay the sheriff for the service.

Murphy's office charged the state as if three guards made each of the trips. In fact, no more than two guards were present in any given vehicle.

McCaskill's auditors said that the sheriff's clerk who prepares the transportation bills said she had been doing that for more than 30 years.

In addition, the sheriff billed the state for too many miles when it transported prisoners. For example, it charged 125 miles each from St. Louis to Vandalia, when the actual distance is 103 miles.

McCaskill recommended that the sheriff reimburse the money to the state and clean up its billing practices.

Murphy responded by saying that he was working under procedures put in place in 1972.

Secret bank account

The audit reported the sheriff maintained a secret bank account in which he had deposited $145,000 from fees charged to private process servers since 1994. The money was not controlled by the city treasurer and was spent without comptroller approval, contrary to state law.

The money was supposed to pay for training private process servers. Instead, it went to whatever the sheriff wanted. Four of the 20 purchases examined lacked a receipt or invoice.
In August, just after the governor ordered the audit, the sheriff closed the secret account. The money is now in an account maintained by the city treasurer, but the sheriff still does not seek approval by the comptroller for the money he spends out of it.

"Simply moving the bank account failed to result in compliance with the statutory requirements," the audit states.

Murphy responded by saying that 32 different city agencies hold 157 similar accounts. But he agreed to close the account.

Audit highlights

NEW DISCLOSURES:

• $525,895 from evidence envelopes deposited in an outside account and used for department expenses, contrary to state law.
• $145,000 in private process server fees put in a secret account, in violation of state law, and spent for expenses generally not related to the program.
• $26,444 overcharged to the state for transporting its prisoners.
• $13,540 overpaid for a prisoner transport van and Sheriff James Murphy's car.
• 1,500 rifles and shotguns in the property room have not been destroyed.
• 28 deputies carried personal firearms without approval; 23 current and former deputies worked outside jobs without approval.
• Five deputies got city-owned and maintained cars for use on and off the job without the sheriff reporting the perk, as required, to the Internal Revenue Service.
• Two parcels of land owned by the state sold for failure to pay taxes when the state is not required to pay taxes.
• More than half of all orders of protection intended to guard against domestic violence returned undelivered.
• No tracking system to guarantee that all evidence and property is accounted for.
• No accounting system for the money received and disbursed when land was sold for failure to pay taxes.

• Some deputies were allowed to work full-time outside employment, while not dedicating full-time work to their jobs serving papers for the sheriff's department.
• Murphy failed to notify the state or the prosecutor that $660,489 remained in envelopes in the sheriff's evidence locker, a violation of a state law.
• Murphy allowed a number of deputies to carry their firearms even though they failed to pass the firearms qualification tests.
• Murphy's office paid two deputies auto allowances - reserved for city workers who use their personal cars in the line of duty - even though the deputies drove sheriff's cars on and off duty free of charge.

HEADLINE: Marijuana found in auctioned car

DATELINE: BUNKIE, La.

Mechanics looking for a problem with a truck's gas tank soon found it when they discovered 200 pounds of marijuana hidden in the tank. The marijuana, which was compressed into two separate containers, is worth about $200,000, Bunkie Police Chief Mary Fanara said.

The 2001 Ford F-150 was bought at a car auction in Texas July 9 by the Lamar Ford dealership and later sold. Its new owner later brought it back, complaining of problems with the gas tank, saying even after the tank was filled, the gasoline wouldn't last for long.  On Monday, the Lamar service crew removed the gas tank and found two separate containers bolted into the tank.

"They called to tell us they had found drugs in the gas tank of a vehicle, and I could not believe it until I saw it with my own eyes," Fanara said.

Police said the containers were hinged into the gas tank so if someone knocked on it, it still would sound hollow. How the drugs got into the tank remains a mystery. Police said it's likely the drugs were inserted into the containers with a compressor device.

Police said the marijuana was heavily packed. Maj. Timmy Stracener said he tried to see how deep the container was but could only chip down a few inches into the drugs without tearing it apart. Fanara said the department has theories about how the vehicle was auctioned with the drugs inside. She speculated that it could have been repossessed or seized in forfeiture before the drugs could be removed.

Officers also do not know who previously owned the vehicle or where it came from before it was sold at the auction. The drug find is Bunkie's largest and Fanara says she's never seen anything like this before. Officers confiscated the gas tank and drugs, but left the truck with the car dealership.

Bunkie officers placed the marijuana in a police evidence room, but the odor still permeated the air at the back of the jail. Many officers said they could stay in the room only for a little while before the odor forced them out. Fanara said the federal Drug Enforcement Agency will be asked to take over the investigation.