DEPUTY DELIVERED DRUG MONEY TO MENELEY'S ATTORNEY

A former sheriff's deputy drove three times to Lawrence to deliver $6,500
in cash from a drug buy fund to then-Sheriff Dave Meneley's attorney for an
investigation of suspected ethics violations by Attorney General Carla
Stovall and District Attorney Joan Hamilton, the former deputy testified
Monday.

Meneley has been charged by the attorney general's office with two felony
counts of misuse of public funds, a misdemeanor count of using money he
received as political contributions for his personal use and 17 felony
thefts totaling $25,100. Monday was the first day of Meneley's preliminary
hearing on those counts.

Dave Reser, who retired from the sheriff's department and now works in
construction, testified he administered the sheriff's department drug buy
fund when Meneley paid the money to his Lawrence attorney. Each month,
Reser's responsibilities included balancing the drug buy fund, which
received about $50,000 a year in county money and some forfeited funds.

Roger Lovelace, who as a captain supervised the sheriff's investigation
division, including the narcotics unit, testified the drug buy fund was
used to pay informants, to buy narcotics in investigations, to use in
burglary and other offense investigations, and to buy and maintain
equipment in the drug investigation unit. Lovelace, who retired in October
1998, balanced the drug buy fund before he taught Reser how to do it.

Each month, Reser would issue a check to a number of deputies and to
Meneley, later collect the receipts, balance an individual's receipts and
leftover money, and issue a new check to each person for the next month.

In the payments to Lawrence attorney James Rumsey, Reser said, he would
write a check, cash the check and deliver the cash to Rumsey, who would
give a receipt to Reser for the money.

Reser identified paperwork that reflected two checks of $1,500 each and
dated March 2, 1999, and March 19, 1999, and a check for $3,500 on March
19, 1999. Reser testified he would drive a sheriff's department car to
Lawrence on work time to pay Rumsey the cash.

The money was paid to Rumsey to investigate an "ethics violation against
Joan Hamilton and Carla Stovall," Reser said. Meneley didn't want anything
to get out about the investigation so that's why Reser paid cash to Rumsey,
Reser said. The ethics violation "was between Mr. Meneley and Mr. Rumsey,"
Reser said.

At Meneley's direction, Reser also used a sheriff's department photocopy
machine to copy transcripts of court testimony, correspondence with
Hamilton and Rumsey and newspaper stories, then place them in 3-inch
binders for Rumsey and William Rork, a Topeka attorney who represented
Meneley at one time. Reser said he made two or three sets of the binders
for each attorney, a total of about 18 binders.

"I just followed orders," Reser said.

Lovelace said that initially in 1996, Meneley was paid $2,000 a month from
the drug buy fund, but Lovelace reduced that to $1,500 a month in 1997
because the fund was running short on funds. Early on, Meneley would return
some money each money, but after 1997, he didn't, Lovelace said.

Checks for Meneley's money from the fund would be written to Undersheriff
Bill Huffmier or others because Meneley either was out of the office or was
in his office with the door closed, Lovelace said.

"You couldn't interrupt him when his door was closed," Lovelace said. It
was Lovelace's idea to write Meneley's checks to someone other than Meneley.

Assistant Attorney General Kyle Smith asked Lovelace why he made
photocopies of paperwork linked to Meneley's checks. Lovelace first said he
didn't know but later acknowledged it was because he was concerned it would
come up some day.

Linn County District Judge Richard Smith is assigned to handle this
criminal case.