HEADLINE: Judge says police chief to remain jailed

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GREENVILLE, N.C. - The police chief of the town of Bethel will remain in jail until his trial on drug charges, but a co-defendant from the department can be released on bond, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge David Daniel said Tuesday that Reginald Roberts should remain jailed because of knowledge of weapons and criminal contacts. Roberts has been suspended without pay.

Daniel allowed Jerome Cox, a Bethel police lieutenant also suspended from the force, to be released on $100,000 bond, citing the impending birth of a child and community ties as incentives not to escape. Cox will wear an electronic monitor.

"This is a troubling case," Daniel said.

During a two-hour hearing, FBI agent Donald Coward said an investigation of the officers started in August. A cooperative witness, also a convicted felon, told police in Beaufort County that Roberts wanted to sell a kilo of cocaine from his department's evidence room.

Roberts drove a silver Mercedes with a vanity license plate that said `De Man" to a meeting on Sept. 1 at a Greenville restaurant and allegedly sought the man's help in robbing drug dealers, Coward testified.

At a meeting five days later that was recorded by the FBI, the man allegedly gave the chief $100 to be allowed to participate in the scheme. Coward said the chief was in his police car at the time.

Coward also testified that the FBI monitored other meetings between the chief and the witness at which drugs, cash and weapons were present.

Information from: The Daily Reflector

HEADLINE: Defendants in Memphis police evidence room theft ring sentenced

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. - An Atlanta drug lord who arranged the sale of more than a half-ton of cocaine stolen from Memphis Police Department evidence rooms has been sentenced to 24 years in prison.

Patrick Maxwell's sentence of 292 months was more severe because he violated an agreement made with prosecutors after providing them with information about other drug dealers and pleading guilty.

He violated his agreement in August when he was charged with trying to sell the $1.5 million Georgia home he had promised to forfeit to the government.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Breen also sentenced Eric Brown, who sold the stolen drugs in Memphis, to 11 years in prison. Brown also cooperated with authorities.

The pair sold as much as 600 kilograms of cocaine before being charged in September 2003. The drugs were stolen from the evidence rooms at the Shelby County Criminal Justice Center and a warehouse by manager Kenneth Dansberry, a civilian employee of the police department.

Dansberry was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to drug conspiracy.

A total of 17 suspects tied to the evidence room thefts have been convicted.

Information from: The Commercial Appeal

HEADLINE: Missing drugs lead to changes in policy

BYLINE: KRISTEN KRIDEL

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CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- A 5-gram bag of crack cocaine missing from police dog training equipment prompted the Sheriff's Office to change the way it tracks narcotics used to train dogs, Major Mark Caro said.

The adjustment in inventory and check-out policies builds on changes made in 2003 when marijuana was discovered missing from the training aids, according to a sheriff's internal affairs report released Wednesday.

The crack cocaine was discovered missing when officials conducted an audit of dog training aids March 28, so the Sheriff's Office opened an internal affairs investigation.

"Based on the investigation, I have found several safety precautions for handling the training aids that are not being followed or are not in policy," Sgt. William Prummell wrote in the report.

While examining the K-9 Narcotic Training Packet Log, Prummell found several dates when items were checked out but never signed back in, according to the report. He also learned that six months of 2004 audits were never turned into the proper authorities.

Although the standing policy requires the training aids to be weighed when signed in and out, there was no place on the log to document the weights, the report states.

According to the report, the last person to check out the bag for training was Cpl. Leonard Prevatte.

Prevatte told authorities he signed out the crack cocaine on March 1, conducted training and locked the bags back up, the report states. "He said he was sloppy and did not weigh them back in or he would have caught it that day."

Prevatte received a letter of reprimand. "His failure to follow policy and procedure resulted in the lack of detection of the loss of narcotics on that date and thus their possible recovery." Caro wrote in the report.

Caro said that the new policy allows only one supervisor to check drugs in and out rather than two dog trainers.

In addition, the Sheriff's Office requires the supervisor to do an audit of the training aids once a month, Caro added.

"We did change the policy to keep better control," Caro said. "We have checks and balances to alleviate this in the future."

SECTION: LOCAL REGION; Pg. 5B

HEADLINE: Delhi police chief nabbed for additional charges

BYLINE: Stacy Temple

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DELHI - Louisiana State Police on Tuesday arrested Delhi Police Chief Gregg McKinney on additional charges in the ongoing investigation of an August fire that gutted his office and the department's evidence room.

Julie Lewis, Louisiana State Police Troop F public affairs trooper, said McKinney was arrested around 1:10 p.m. Tuesday at his home without incident.

He was charged with five counts of obstruction of justice, one count of theft of fine monies and two counts of malfeasance in office. Bond was set at $45,000.

McKinney was charged Aug. 12 with one count of aggravated arson, one count of obstruction of justice and one count of malfeasance in office after state police detectives began investigating a July 30 fire at McKinney's office.

At the time McKinney said had been painting his office and apparently left a candle burning.

Richland Parish Sheriff Charles McDonald requested the investigation following the fire.

Prior to the fire, citizens of Delhi were circulating a petition to have McKinney removed from office, saying he targeted black motorists.

Lewis said a full report of the detective's findings would be filed with the Richland Parish District Attorney's Office within the next few weeks.

Until that report is filed, Lewis said the evidence behind the charges cannot be revealed to the public.

Once the report is filed, court dates will be determined by the district attorney's office, she said.