HEADLINE:  Employees resign but will not be charged

DATELINE:  SALT LAKE CITY

Three police employees who purportedly took property from the department's evidence room  that was to be destroyed have resigned. No charges are planned.

Investigators would not identify the workers, but said they had taken unclaimed property such as compact discs, makeup and clothing. All the items had been marked for destruction.

Assistant Police Chief William Shelton said the three employees were not officers and the stolen property was not part of any criminal investigation.

The probe was launched after an associate of one of the three came forward, Shelton said.

City Attorney Roger Cutler said the three resigned last month for "personal reasons" and he declined to elaborate.

"These items were not drugs or money," Shelton said, "and most of the missing items have been recovered."

"The city prosecutor's office has reviewed the matter and has declined to file charges based on the interests of justice and the fact that the matter has been handled internally," City Prosecutor Simarjit Gill said Wednesday.

The fact that any item was stolen from the evidence room  is a concern, said Richard Mauro, president-elect of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

"We, as defense attorneys, are concerned any time evidence is missing or is not preserved and whether that affects the integrity of our cases," Mauro said. "We are always concerned about that."

HEADLINE:  Winchester sticking by Fresno PD

People are wondering about the Fresno Police Department, its recent history of problems and the future of Chief Ed Winchester when Fresno crowns a new mayor.

Within the ranks, law enforcement officers privately voice concern about their reputation and whether the department is acknowledging its problems.

The FPD made national news when its bomb squad bunker was raided, and no one knew when, exactly, or how many explosives were stolen late last year. More startling, there was no inventory process. Then it was revealed that $ 200,000 from the evidence room  was unaccounted for and an AR-15 assault rifle was missing. Then a police officer was charged with murder. Now the PD is on trial for allegedly failing to stop the harassment of an officer who fingered colleagues for theft.

Winchester said this week, laughing: "And those are just the things you know about."

He added, "Police departments go through these kinds of cycles. We learn from problems. We don't look at problems, necessarily, as evil things. Any large organization with over 1,000 people and an $ 80 million budget is going to have problems. Our police department is staffed with human beings. They're not perfect."

Winchester, 52, who suffered chest pains and had quadruple coronary bypass surgery in 1998, said he doesn't expect to exit with Mayor Jim Patterson in 2001: "I'm probably looking at anywhere from two to five years. I have no retirement plans on the horizon. I have no intention of working anywhere else. I've always been a Fresno police officer. It's all I want to be."

He has been with the department 33 years and chief since 1994.

Winchester explained that he's an "at-will employee" under the strong-mayor form of government. He's appointed by the city manager.

"I would hope the next mayor is a man of vision. We need continuing budgetary support," Winchester said. "The real challenge of the next mayor is going to be not just maintaining public safety services, but finding ways to keep up with the growth."

Hired by former City Manager Mike Bierman, who bypassed a competitive process, Winchester negotiated a contract with no expiration date. If the city manager wishes to remove Winchester from his post, he can reduce his rank to deputy chief. Likewise, Winchester can demote himself to deputy chief.

The Fresno police chief earns $ 10,357 a month, or $ 124,284 annually.

DOMINOES: Fresno City Council Member Chris Mathys, who placed third in the crowded race for mayor, is eyeing the state Assembly now. State Sen. Chuck Poochigian, R-Fresno, who's term-limited in 2006, is expected to seek statewide office. Assemblyman Mike Briggs of Clovis wants to run for Senate. Mathys tells supporters he would go for Briggs' seat.

Privately, Fresno County Republicans say they're not disappointed that Mathys lost his bid for mayor. Activists encouraged him to run for mayor, rather than council re-election or county supervisor, betting he would lose. They say he is a wild card who has embarrassed the party with his unpredictable behavior.

HEADLINE:  Police officer charged with theft turns in three other officers

DATELINE:  Farmington, Utah

An officer facing a felony theft charge told investigators that three West Bountiful police officers were stealing from the department's evidence room,  Davis County Attorney Mel Wilson said.

Through an attorney, Patrick Jellerson implicated the three officers, Wilson said.  One officer has resigned, one has retired and the other is on administrative leave.

Jellerson approached the County Attorney's Office with allegations in hopes of getting his charges reduced, Wilson said.

"I hate these cases where we have to give a deal to get others, especially this case where we have officers turning on other officers," Wilson said.

Jellerson, a former corporal with the West Bountiful Police Department, was charged in August 1999 with felony and misdemeanor theft in connection with the theft of money from a Lakeview Hospital safe and gift shop cash register in mid July 1999.

At that time, Jellerson moonlighted at the hospital as a security guard.

Jellerson was dismissed from the West Bountiful Police Department on July 29, 1999.

Wilson would not comment on specific allegations made against the three officers. With no charges filed, Wilson also would not release their names.

"We attempted to corroborate the allegations Mr. Jellerson said in regards to the evidence room  tampering," Wilson said. "Other allegations he made we could not corroborate."

Jellerson is scheduled for a disposition hearing Thursday, Wilson said. It's unclear if the former officer will have a deal in place before then.

"I'm unsure whether I want to let Mr. Jellerson plea at this time," Wilson said. "He'll have his deal and we'll have this other case still to deal with."

HEADLINE:  Woman expected to change plea

A former Sarasota County Sheriff's Office employee has decided to avoid trial by entering a plea of guilty or no contest to charges she stole about $ 61,000, lawyers said.

Holly Beth Schlegelmilch was to stand trial next month on second-degree felony grand theft after admitting in August that she took the money from a property room she supervised. She pleaded not guilty in September.

Schlegelmilch will change her plea at a hearing Tuesday, her attorney, David Denkin of Sarasota, said Monday.

The state attorney's office will seek either prison or jail time, said prosecutor Steve Zimath. If a judge accepts either plea, she will be eligible for incarceration.

Money taken from the evidence room  had been seized from criminal suspects during narcotics arrests in 1998 and early 1999. The thefts did not jeoparidze any of those cases.

Schlegelmilch was fired after the arrest.

HEADLINE:  Sergeant fired in Cascade County

DATELINE:  HELENA

GREAT FALLS (AP) - Sgt. Deborah Baumgart was fired Friday, a day after being charged with stealing more than $ 15,000 from the Cascade County sheriff department's evidence room.

Baumgart, 43, was charged in District Court with felony theft, felony evidence tampering and official misconduct, stemming from the Jan. 12 discovery of money missing from the evidence room.

Sheriff John Strandell has said from the beginning that she would be fired, but he waited until charges were filed, fearing a potential civil lawsuit.

Baumgart was arrested on March 7, after investigators found evidence linking her to the stolen money, including her bank records and a missing evidence bag in her house.

She has been on paid administrative leave since Jan 27. The county auditor's office said she made $ 38,668 a year.

Baumgart, who worked for the sheriff's department for 16 years, told investigators she has a gambling problem and owes more than $ 78,000.

Baumgart is free on $ 10,000 bail and will be arraigned in District Court April 6. She faces a maximum 20-year prison sentence and a $ 100,000 fine.

HEADLINE:  Arbitrators order jobs returned to convict cops

DATELINE:  PITTSBURGH

When an off-duty state trooper pleaded guilty to simple assault, driving under the influence and making terrorist threats, he was fired.

But Rodney Smith is back patrolling out of the Kittanning barracks where he worked on the May 1995 day he drank for hours, jammed a gun in an ex-girlfriend's mouth, threatening to kill her, and drove off for more drinking.

Why can Smith now arrest people for the same kinds of offenses he committed? Because an arbitrator decided to give him his job back, and the Supreme Court said state law forced it to uphold the decision.

Police departments across the state are complaining that, in dozens of cases, they have been forced to reinstate officers fired for offenses including drunken driving, theft and assault because of arbitrators' rulings.

"When we're forced to take back felons and those who've stolen drugs from the evidence locker  ... it speaks quite loudly," said Pittsburgh Police Chief Robert McNeilly Jr., referring to a case in which an arbitrator said he had to reinstate an officer who stole crack cocaine because the officer had completed drug rehabilitation.

Philadelphia Police Commissioner John F. Timoney has lobbied lawmakers to change Act 111, the state law that limits appeals of police arbitrators' rulings. He said several arbitrated cases in Philadelphia and statewide have had ridiculous outcomes.

The law says rulings can only be reversed when someone's constitutional rights were violated or when arbitrators did not have jurisdiction, followed improper procedure or overstepped authority.

In the case of Smith, who was off-duty when he committed the offenses and also received a year's probation under the arbitrator's decision, the Supreme Court ruled that state law makes it almost impossible to appeal police arbitration rulings - even bad ones.

Justice Russell M. Nigro said in the case that the law should be changed to allow the reversal of any decision that is "repugnant to public policy or shocks the conscience of the court." Gov. Tom Ridge also supports a re-examination of the law.  "We support addressing that issue, and we've indicated that to the General Assembly," Ridge spokesman Tom Charles said.

Since 1993, Pittsburgh has won 66 of 99 cases that went to arbitration. But the Fraternal Order of Police, the officers' union, was successful 33 times in overturning disciplinary action taken by the police chief.

Among arbitrators' reasons for overruling supervisors' decisions are technical violations, like paperwork being filed late. In other cases, they may not believe witnesses, or think a particular officer is being unfairly singled out for harsh treatment.

In Smith's case, arbitrator Stanley Schwartz said it would be unfair to fire him because another trooper who had threatened to kill his wife had received only a 20-day suspension. Schwartz said it would be unfair for Smith to be punished more harshly.

HEADLINE:  Report: Prosecutor's warnings about corrupt officer ignored

A prosecutor warned his superior about a corrupt officer a year before the ongoing Rampart police scandal was uncovered, it was reported Sunday.

Deputy District Attorney Michael Kraut noted his concerns about the honesty of Officer Rafael Perez in two 1997 drug cases, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported, citing confidential documents and interviews.

"This guy did what he was supposed to do. He thought Perez was a bad cop and he told his supervisors. They ignored him," a person identified as an informed source told the Daily News.

In 1998, Perez was arrested for stealing cocaine from a police evidence locker.  Seeking leniency, he began telling investigators that he and fellow anti-gang officers in the Rampart area planted evidence, lied on the witness stand and shot innocent people.

At least 29 officers have been relieved of duty and 40 convictions have been overturned as a result of ongoing corruption investigations.

Police said they were not notified of Kraut's concerns at the time, although the Daily News said the information was turned over last year.

"If the information is accurate, it would have been helpful and of critical importance for the department in 1997," Cmdr. David Kalish told the newspaper.

Kraut himself declined to discuss the matter.

Head Deputy District Attorney Sally Thomas said both cases are under internal investigation, but so far it appears a more thorough review would not have exposed Perez earlier.

In June 1997, Kraut took the unusual move of asking a judge to dismiss cocaine charges against an alleged gang member. Kraut said he had concerns about the credibility of Perez's testimony.

Perez later admitted to investigators that he had planted drugs on the suspect.

Kraut's concerns were not related directly to the evidence, but he had proof Perez lied about other circumstances surrounding the arrest, the Daily News said.

The prosecutor explained his action in a memo to his supervisor, Head Deputy District Attorney Richard Sullivan, who approved his decision but determined no further steps were needed, Thomas said.

Shortly after sending the memo, Kraut reviewed a failed drug case that was handled by a different prosecutor. He learned the judge tossed out the charges because Perez and his partner reported being unable to find confiscated drugs in an evidence room.

An unidentified source told the Daily News that Kraut called the LAPD and learned the narcotic evidence was there.

"It was never missing," the source said.

Kraut believed Perez once again had lied to prosecutors and put a note in the case file that was sent to his supervisor. The file sat on Sullivan's desk for about a year, sources told the newspaper.

Thomas said her review of the case failed to find such a note.

"If someone is in receipt of any such note," she said. "I'd certainly like to see it."

HEADLINE:  'Incompetence' in arson case worries Forbes

Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Bill Forbes is worried that evidence collection is a systemwide problem at the Sheriff's Department after prosecutors were forced to drop an arson case against a Clendenin man because of tainted evidence.

Charges against Robert Allen Criner, 57, were to be dropped Monday, prosecutors said.

Criner was charged with first-degree arson in the burning of his girlfriend's Elkview house. He and his girlfriend, Drema Armstead, had an argument a few hours before the fire, and Criner allegedly threatened to burn the house.

"Based on the incompetence of the evidence gathering and handling ..., we have no evidence to connect this man to the scene of the arson," Forbes said.

Problems with the evidence came to light during a hearing Wednesday. Detective Shawn Crosier testified that some evidence was missing, some evidence was in the wrong place and other evidence was improperly handled. Crosier took over the case after Detective William Lange left in September 1999.

A forensic chemist for the State Police wrote in a March 1 letter that he could not test floor mats, a clipboard or a notebook seized from Criner's car because they were stored in paper bags. Without an airtight environment, an accelerant such as gasoline can evaporate.

Sheriff Dave Tucker's spokesman, Cpl. Jess Bailes, said all of the evidence has been located since Wednesday's hearing, including Criner's clothing, which Crosier testified had been lost. Lange took other evidence when he left the department last year.

Lange left to take a job as a corrections officer in Akron, Ohio. He initially told detectives and prosecutors he did not take any evidence with him, but Bailes said Lange searched through some boxes and found a notebook with information on the case.

A detective went to Ohio to get the file on Thursday, Bailes said. Tucker has ordered an internal investigation.

"We are in the process of reviewing all of Detective Lange's pending cases," he said.

Bailes said the problem with the arson case is an isolated incident and that the Sheriff's Department does a good job collecting and preserving evidence. He cited the recent purchase of a mobile crime lab as a way to protect evidence.

"We feel very confident in our ability to conduct crime scene analyses and crime scene investigations," he said.

Forbes lacks Bailes' confidence. He said telling the victims he cannot prosecute Criner because of "a lack of professionalism" was the saddest day of his 12 years as a prosecutor. Forbes is worried evidence in other cases could have been lost or mishandled.

"This kind of incompetence invites speculation and a parade of problems in every case we have with the Sheriff's Department," the prosecutor said.

Kevin Quinlan, Tucker's chief of operations, said the department needs more space for evidence storage. The department used part of the old voter registration building to store evidence before that building was demolished.

Tucker wants $ 18,500 from the 2000-01 budget to expand the evidence room.

"We have been very concerned about that for some time," Quinlan said. "It's not something that just happened."

HEADLINE:  Oscar diving Statuettes are found discarded; authorities report two arrests

DATELINE:  LOS ANGELES

LOS ANGELES - Marlon Brando never trashed the Oscars like this. Fifty-two of 55 Oscar statuettes have turned up discarded alongside a Koreatown garbage bin, little more than a week after being stolen from a loading dock.

 The Los Angeles Police Department also announced on Monday that two men have been arrested in the alleged theft, which investigators described as an inside job. Both suspects were employees of the shipping company, Roadway Express, from whose cargo yard the Oscars were pilfered.

 Salvage man Willie Fulgear, 61, found the gold--plated loot Sunday night while rummaging through the bin for recyclables. The 13-inch statuettes were still in their plastic wrapping and foam-padded cartons.

 "I've got more Oscars than any of the movie stars," joked a beaming Mr. Fulgear, who hopes to collect the $ 50,000 reward that Roadway had posted during the investigation. "I'm living in one room now. . . . I'm going to go buy me a little ol' house."

 The 10 cartons of Oscars had disappeared after being trucked to nearby Bell by their Chicago manufacturer, R.S. Owens. They were to be presented at Sunday's 72nd Academy Awards.

 The academy already has ordered replacements from R.S. Owens. They were due to arrive here later this week - under heavy guard. "I suspect that will probably be the procedure for the future," said R.S. Owens executive Scott Siegel.

 The police said Roadway dockworker Anthony Keith Hart of West Covina and driver Lawrence Edward Ledent of Los Angeles, both 38, were arrested Saturday on grand-theft charges. They were jailed in lieu of $ 100,000 bail.

 "They did it for profit," said Detective Marc Zavala. "They thought they could make money."

 Mr. Zavala and Police Chief Bernard Parks said an anonymous tip set investigators on the trail of Mr. Ledent and Mr. Hart. They said more arrests might be made.

 The whereabouts of the other three Oscars remained unknown.

 Mr. Fulgear stumbled on the cartons in the dirty parking lot of a Koreatown grocery store and laundry, a few miles from Hollywood. The Oscars had not been so disrespected since Mr. Brando refused his best-actor award for 1972's The Godfather.

 But it's been that kind of year for the awards. Earlier this month, 4,000 Oscar ballots vanished from a post office - also in Bell. The academy had to reprint them and extend the voting deadline.

 The recovered Oscars, which are not engraved with winners' names, will be dusted for fingerprints and processed through the LAPD's evidence room.  "One of them got a little dented. The rest were fine," said academy executive director Bruce Davis.

 All of them might be returned to the academy in time for Sunday's gala at the Shrine Auditorium, Mr. Davis said. If not, the backup Oscars will be handed out.

 A Roadway spokeswoman had no comment on Mr. Fulgear's prospects for receiving the reward, saying the decision will be made after the investigation is completed.

 In the meantime, Mr. Fulgear said he wouldn't mind getting a few tickets to the awards show. "I think I deserve that," he added.

HEADLINE: Tucker, Forbes cast blame on each other

DAILY MAIL STAFF

Sheriff Dave Tucker says it was incompetence at the Kanawha County Prosecutor's Office - not the actions of Tucker's detectives - that led to problems with the arson case against Robert Criner. Tucker also says the case is still strong enough to go to a jury, but Prosecutor Bill Forbes is planning to dismiss the case because of his own bias against the Kanawha County Sheriff's Department.

Forbes said last week that because of the way physical evidence in the case  against Criner was handled by the sheriff's department, his office was going to move to dismiss the charges against the 57-year-old Clendenin man.

The prosecutor called the case the worst handling of evidence he had ever  seen and said he had no choice but to seek the dismissal, which has, as yet, not come before Kanawha Circuit Judge Jim Stucky for approval. The sheriff maintains  that it was Forbes' staff, not the sheriff's office that botched the case.

In a letter to Forbes dated Monday, Tucker says that Forbes' office rushed the case along, ordered an arrest too soon, allowed the case to go to a grand jury without a proper report and tried to "set up" department detectives for an embarrassment.

Criner was arrested May 24, 1999, while the fire at the home rented by Drema Armstead on Spencer Road was still smoldering. Investigators said Criner had threatened Armstead that day. She took her daughter and fled the home, which burned down a short time later.

Last Thursday, in a hearing before Stucky, assistant prosecutor Kim
Hindman  told the judge that because evidence in the case could not be found, her
 department was considering dropping the case. The next day, Forbes decided
to seek dismissal of the case, blaming sloppy evidence methods at the department.

Initially, the sheriff's department said evidence had been mishandled and placed the blame with former Detective William Lange, who left the department in  the midst of the case to go to work for the Cuyahoga County Sheriff in  Cleveland. Lange, it was said, behaved irresponsibly and disregarded departmental procedures in the way he stored evidence.

At the hearing last week, Hindman said clothes to be tested for gasoline were dropped in a paper bag and put on a shelf in the department's cramped evidence room, where they sat for 10 months without being tested, along with floor mats from the defendant's car and other items.

When the items were taken to the State Police crime lab, chemists there declined to  examine them, saying that any evidentiary value would have long ago  evaporated along with possible traces of gasoline. Tucker's spokesman, Jess Bailes, said Tuesday that the department was too  quick to place blame on Lange, and did so without properly understanding the detective's theory of the case.  "He never intended to have them tested for gasoline," Bailes said. "He was  simply in the process of gathering as much evidence as possible. The evidence that the case was based on was testimonial and circumstantial, not
physical."

Detective Shawn Crosier, who inherited the case after Lange left, said when Hindman told him to go and have the items tested for gasoline, he did so Because he was unfamiliar with the case and made the assumption that the assistant prosecutor was more familiar with it. "Had I known what Detective Lange was  intending, I would have known not to even try to have the items tested," he  said.

Crosier says that in light of threats allegedly made by Criner, and witnesses who Crosier says could place the defendant at the scene of the crime only minutes before the fire, the case is still alive. "I don't understand why you wouldn't want to go to trial with that evidence - especially when you have such substantial evidence of arson in the first place," Crosier said.

The detective also alleges that he wasn't given enough time to find the evidence in the case and was only notified of the hearing minutes in advance.

Hindman, who deferred the bulk of questions about the case to Forbes, said she and Crosier had been working closely on the case, and there should have been no surprises when it came to any court hearings.  Forbes could not be reached for comment.

HEADLINE:  Ex-worker admits she took cash

A former supervisor in the Sarasota County sheriff's evidence room  admitted Tuesday that she stole $ 88,000 in confiscated drug and fraud money to travel, pay off her credit cards and medical bills and buy a swing set for her two children.

In a 10-minute hearing at the Sarasota County Judicial Center in Sarasota, Holly Beth Schlegelmilch, 34, pleaded no contest to four counts of grand theft. Other than acknowledging her plea, which confirmed a previous detailed confession, she said nothing.

Prosecutor Steve Zimath said he'll be seeking time behind bars for the first-time offender, but he wouldn't say how much or if it would be in the county jail or in a state prison.

Circuit Judge Nancy Donnellan scheduled a May 4 sentencing hearing.

Schlegelmilch's attorney, David Denkin, said she's been working to repay the money.

"She's devastated," he said. "I don't think jail is the correct punishment here."

Schlegelmilch's arrest in August led to widespread changes in how the Sheriff's Office handles cash.

"It's a shame," said her former boss, Capt. Bill Balkwill, who had scheduled a routine evidence room  audit when Schlegelmilch suddenly confessed to thefts.

"You trust an employee and you hope they'll be as honest as they can," he said.

Between regular audits, Schlegelmilch stole money that had been seized from suspects during narcotics or fraud arrests in 1998 and early 1999.

Schlegelmilch was in charge of that cash, and as supervisor had a key to the room where the money was stored.

In some cases, the Sheriff's Office has had to refund money out of its own budget to criminal defendants acquitted in court. Because of that, it will seek restitution from Schlegelmilch, Balkwill said.

Zimath said the lost cash affected one case that went to trial, but the defendant was still convicted.

At the time of her arrest, investigators believed that Schlegelmilch had stolen $ 61,000. Further investigation revealed that the figure was $ 27,000 higher.

Schlegelmilch earned $ 30,276 annually before she was fired. She remains free while waiting for her May 4 court appearance.

HEADLINE:  Decorated officer indicted in scandal 20-year veteran faces charges of felony theft and misconduct

One of DuPage County's most decorated police officers was indicted Wednesday on charges of theft and official misconduct.

Bensenville police Sgt. Joe De Anda, a nearly 20-year department veteran, was charged with one count of felony theft and six counts of official misconduct. DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett announced the grand jury indictment Wednesday.   "It's a sad day when charges are brought against a police officer or any public employee," Birkett said.

Authorities allege that on six occasions between January 1995 and July 1996, De Anda, 48, removed a total of $ 6,019 in cash from the department that had been seized during gambling and drugs investigations.

The indictment also alleges De Anda altered department records to make it look like the money had been deposited properly, and that in February 1998, he returned the same amount of money to the department and claimed it was the seized money. That in itself would classify as misconduct, Birkett said.  Reached at his Bensenville home Wednesday, De Anda denied any wrongdoing and said he believes he's been set up.  "I'm just kind of numb right now," De Anda said. "I don't have much to say. I'm absolutely innocent. ... It's a shame this hasn't been a fair and impartial investigation from the get-go."  De Anda is the second officer indicted on charges stemming from a January 1998 FBI raid on Club Latino, a Bensenville bar owned by De Anda's parents and managed by his brother.

The raid touched off an investigation by the village, which was headed by Theodore Poulos, a former assistant U.S. attorney. The probe into the FBI raid has concluded, but a separate investigation is continuing.
 

William Wassman, a former evidence custodian,  was indicted in February 1999 on charges of obstruction of justice and official misconduct on suspicion he tampered with evidence. He resigned in September and criminal charges are pending.   In the police department's internal investigation, De Anda also was accused of concealing drug trafficking at Club Latino.

In addition, he is accused by the village of failing to pay taxes on $ 10,000 he earned for his work with Bensenville Security Services, an unlicensed, now defunct security firm operated by officers from inside the Bensenville Police Department.  The village also accused De Anda of improperly conducting the police department's investigation of the tavern for a liquor license renewal.  None of the activities alleged by the village was included in Wednesday's indictment.  If found guilty of the theft and misconduct charges, De Anda could face two to five years in prison.  De Anda has not been arrested but is expected to surrender to authorities today. His bond has been set at $ 10,000.

De Anda, whom Birkett called a "well-respected officer," once worked for DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group, a special narcotics unit, and was the first officer in the county to pose as a drug dealer. In 1990 he earned the Governor's Award for his drug- bust work, and in 1993 made, at the time, the largest marijuana bust in county history.

"The public places its trust in our hands," said Birkett, who added cases against police officers are rare. The village referred its investigation of DeAnda to the state's attorney's office last March.  De Anda has been suspended without pay, and police commissioners are planning termination hearings against him.

HEADLINE: FORMER OFFICER IS FACING CHARGES; A RETIRED POLICE SERGEANT AND WATER DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEE ARE ACCUSED OF; MISHANDLING EVIDENCE FROM THE GREENSBORO POLICE DEPARTMENT.

DATELINE: GREENSBORO

An internal investigation into missing evidence at the Greensboro Police Department has led to the arrests of a retired police sergeant and the Brother  of a former police department employee who pleaded guilty to similar charges late last year.

James Fear, a longtime department employee who retired last summer, was charged last week with embezzling $ 1,000 from the evidence room, which he oversaw, said Capt. Bill Stafford, who heads the special investigation division.

And Michael McPeak, who has worked for the city's water department, faces a tampering with or destroying evidence charge, similar to ones that his sister, former evidence technician Leigh Ann McPeak, pleaded guilty to in December, Stafford said. Stafford released few details about the men's cases, saying the Investigation continues. He would not say whether additional arrests would be made.

The captain did say internal affairs and two detectives on special Assignment  began looking deeper into problems in the evidence room after the State Bureau  of Investigation completed its probe last summer, which mainly centered on Leigh  Ann McPeak.

Fear was her supervisor, but Stafford would not say if their cases are related. He did say the missing $ 1,000 was from a case that had already been  resolved and the money was to go to the Guilford County school board.

Department employees were surprised and disappointed by the arrests, Stafford  said. ''We have more than 600 employees and 99.9 percent are honest and do their  job to the best of their ability,'' Stafford said. ''It's unfortunate things  like this happen. ... You've got humans involved and some of them are going to go astray.''

Fear and Michael McPeak were unable to be reached for comment. Their ages, addresses and bonds were not available. Neither was being held Wednesday in the Guilford County jail.

Leigh Ann McPeak, who worked at the police department for 16 years, was  sentenced to 35 months in prison for stealing crack cocaine from the evidence room to feed her drug addiction. Her crimes placed hundreds of pending drug cases on hold for weeks last summer, while authorities determined how widespread her drug thefts had been.  She pleaded guilty to 11 felony charges, including seven charges of trafficking cocaine by possession.

HEADLINE: Moreau recuses office in guns case

DATELINE: Baton Rouge, LA.

The District Attorney's Office on Friday withdrew from the prosecution of two
police officers arrested Thursday in the theft of guns from the police evidence
room.

District Attorney Doug Moreau said he recused his office partly because of
allegations that a prosecutor, now deceased, was involved. Also, he said, his office cooperated in the investigation and some of his staff may be witnesses in the case.

The two police officers - Sgt. Robert McGehee and Homicide Detective Tommy
 Morrison - are accused of taking dozens of guns from the evidence room when they
worked there in 1994 and 1995.

Records showed the guns had been destroyed, but police now believe that they were not.

They say 35 such guns turned up in the home of Assistant District Attorney Dana Ashford, after his 1997 death from pancreatic cancer, or in the possession of his relatives.

Moreau said his office was responsible for the return of some of the guns.

McGehee, 43, of 14766 Col. Allen Court, and Morrison, 39, of 13241 David Lee Drive, Walker, were arrested Thursday afternoon in the chief's office.

They were booked into Parish Prison on 36 counts each of malfeasance in office, felony theft and filing false public records. Each also was booked with conspiracy to commit felony theft. Both were released from Parish Prison on their own recognizance late Thursday.

McGehee, a police officer for 22 years, was named Outstanding Officer of 1994 for his work in improving the evidence room tracking systems. Morrison has been a police officer for 14 years.

At Moreau's request, State District Judge Richard Anderson reassigned the case to the Attorney General on Friday afternoon. Judge Lou Daniel, the chief judge in state criminal court, said he could not comment about any specific case, and he said judges typically order guns destroyed when they no longer are needed as evidence.

Stolen guns can be returned to their owners. Otherwise, judges can order them destroyed or assign them to people, government agencies or nonprofit groups, Judge Daniel said. He said he also can order a gun sold at a judicial sale but that almost never happens.

Years ago, judges often gave guns to law officers, Daniel said.

"I don't think it's the general practice up here at all anymore," he said. "I have never forfeited a gun, since I have been a judge, to an individual."Moreau said judges have had weapons released to others as well.

Moreau said that, in many cases, guns aren't needed as evidence once people plead guilty or because his office doesn't pursue charges. Police periodically give the District Attorney's Office a list of seized  evidence so prosecutors can see if any of it is still needed, Moreau said. If not, the agencies ask a judge for an order to destroy it. Moreau said that in some cases, people see items on the list they want and can ask a judge for it. However, Moreau said he has always had a policy that his staff cannot ask to have guns given to them by the court.

Some guns are given to the office and are then issued to investigators as weapons to use for work, he said. Moreau said he wouldn't comment in detail on Ashford's behavior in the case. He said other guns appear to have been forfeited legally to Ashford. That would have violated the office policy on receiving weapons.

No one else in his office is under investigation in the case, as far as he knows, he said.
 Police haven't detailed Ashford's role in the theft ring except to say that he conspired with Morrison and McGehee to commit the thefts. McGehee and Morrison were placed on administrative leave at the time of their  arrests.

Phares said he did not fire the officers because if they are no longer employees, he cannot compel them to cooperate in the ongoing Internal Affairs  investigation of the thefts. As officers, they are required to answer questions in the internal investigation. Those answers cannot be used against them in court.

Morrison's attorney Rodney Baum said it was premature for Morrison to comment about the case. McGehee said he couldn't discuss the case and referred calls to attorney Hillar Moore. Moore did not return a message left at his office Friday.

HEADLINE:  Sloppy practices cited in chief's firing

DATELINE:  MORTON, Wash.

Sloppy paperwork and unsecured crime evidence may have led to the firing of Morton Police Chief Dan Mortensen, according to an audit of the department. In an audit report written by an investigator with Canfield and Associates, the city's Ephrata-based insurance carrier, many deviations from standard police practice were noted in the handling, storage and eventual disposal of items taken at crime scenes.   The audit report was obtained by The Chronicle newspaper, which reported the results Wednesday.

Mortensen was placed on paid administrative leave beginning Feb. 22, when the departmental audit began. He was removed from the city payroll March 17.  The 15-page report notes many instances of difficulty in matching items of evidence with criminal cases, due to incomplete or missing records.

"During my inspection of the entire police department, the area can best be described as cluttered, with piles of random documents or catalogs ... scattered throughout the office," the audit said. "This is the same condition that I found the chief's office in, as well as the back area of the police department."

The audit report also noted that Mortensen's office was not secured, that the safe in the evidence room  was unlocked even though it contained envelopes of narcotics evidence, and that some evidence was unmarked.

Mayor Gene Coriano said Mortensen was shown "a partial list" of the allegations in the audit report. The former chief denied any wrongdoing, and was fired after he refused to resign, Coriano said. Mortensen has so far refused to discuss his firing.