EX-DEPUTY GETS 3 1/2 YEARS IN PRISON

The Former Manatee County Sheriff s Deputy Is The Fifth From The County's
Anti-Drug Squad To Be Sentenced In Recent Months.

TAMPA - A former sheriffs deputy was sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in
federal prison Monday as part of a long-running corruption investigation of
a once-elite anti-drug squad.

Lance D. Carpenter, the fifth Manatee County sheriffs deputy to be sent to
federal prison in recent months, sobbed as U.S. District judge James
Whittemore handed down the 41-month sentence for four counts of civil
rights and drug charges.

Hours earlier, a sixth deputy, Christopher M. Wilson, 30, pleaded guilty to
similar charges. Federal prosecutors said the investigation of Manatee
County's Delta drug squad continues.

Carpenter, 37, admitted to planting evidence on people to frame them as
well as lying on the witness stand and in depositions to make the charges
stick.

Prosecutors further alleged that in 1997 and 1998, Carpenter and other
members of the Delta Squad then conspired to get their stories straight.

As a result, at least two people were wrongly convicted of drug crimes and
one of them, an 18-year-old single mother, lost custody of her daughter for
a year because of her conviction.

Their scheme fell apart when a drug suspect reported to the Manatee sheriff
s internal affairs unit that he was beaten and robbed of $9,000 by Delta
agents.

Carpenter, now a youth minister at Lighthouse Full Gospel Center in Parish,
sobbed throughout his sentencing hearing and told Whittemore he was full of
remorse.

"I blame no one but me," Carpenter told the judge." I got caught up in the
camaraderie I always dreamed of being in. But it wasn't the camaraderie, it
was me."

Dozens of family and church members filled the courtroom to vouch for
Carpenter, the father of two young children. Youth group members and
parents said Carpenter has used his mistake to help teach others a lesson
and is repentant.

Michael D. Reagan Sr., Carpenter's uncle, said that when his nephew told
him he wanted to join the Delta Squad he advised him to not "compromise his
Christian upbringing."

The very fact of his tears ... is a great sign of remorse on his part,"
Reagan said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Del Fuoco said Carpenter didn't deserve a
break because he did not provide as much help to prosecutors as he could
have and showed no remorse for the victims of his crimes.

Whittemore, while commending those who showed up to support Carpenter,
noted that Carpenter and his colleagues' actions had damaged the criminal
justice system and caused grief to their victims. Whittemore sentenced
Carpenter to the maximum the law would allow.

"Apparently you have found your way back home," Whittemore said, referring
to Carpenter's involvement in religious work. "So in the scheme of things,
that's a little more important than what I am about to do. Home is forever,
you know."