TROUBLING QUESTIONS LINGER IN COP PROBE

Missing Polygraph, Handling Of Informant's Tip Among Issues

It is one of the more mysterious and troubling episodes to emerge in the
probe of Jacksonville police indicted in crimes including murder, robbery
and drug-selling.

Only this tale has little to do with the crimes. Instead, it revolves
around key information provided by a jailhouse informant and how
investigators handled -- or mishandled -- the damning information they'd
been handed.

The twists include the search for the informant's polygraph -- presumed
stolen from the Sheriff's Office -- that implicated officer Aric Sinclair
in crimes nearly a year before he was stripped of his gun and badge; and a
homicide detective's allegations, dismissed by his enraged peers and
superiors, that he was ordered to back off investigating the slaying of
convenience store owner Sami Safar and its ties to Sinclair.

There's also the continued angst of the informant, Darrick McKenzie, who
was thrust from jail into the streets to face Sinclair and another man he
implicated with no reward or protection for his help. McKenzie expressed
his concerns and revealed new details of the case during a recent interview
with the Times-Union.

"They [investigators] told me that according to my information, if it was
valuable enough, they were going to give me something off my time," said
McKenzie, 23, who was jailed for five months for child abuse. "But they
never came through."

As for his safety, McKenzie added: "It scared me, like they might have been
involved or were trying to cover up for him [Sinclair]. I could have been
killed. Abo [Sinclair] was on the street, and he knew about me talking to
the police."

Police and state prosecutors deny cutting a deal with McKenzie, who came
forth with his information in March 1999. He later testified twice before a
federal grand jury after he began cooperating with a task force that began
investigating the police in September 1999.

Sheriff Nat Glover, troubled by whether there had been deliberate
obstruction of McKenzie's help or if it was handled incompetently, ordered
an internal investigation in January -- a month after Sinclair, Officer
Karl Waldon and others were indicted by a federal grand jury.

"It was my understanding there was inappropriate follow-up, and that's part
of what we're looking at internally," Glover said after announcing the
internal probe.

A few days later, Glover postponed the internal investigation at the
request of federal prosecutors.

That investigation is expected to resume after the officers' trial, which
is scheduled for February. Until then, many questions will remain
unanswered. But one thing is clear: The woes for the Sheriff's Office will
linger well after the fates of Sinclair and Waldon are decided.

"If there's some residue or maybe some departmental violations, negligence
or malfeasance that we might have to address administratively, certainly I
won't hesitate to do that," Glover said. "There might be some
administrative fallout as a result of this."

McKenzie talks

Darrick McKenzie had an explosive secret to share with police about one of
their own.

McKenzie, thinking he could get out of jail early and possibly pick up
reward money for helping solve a murder, said he spoke with homicide
detective Michael Duckworth on March 4, 1999, in a meeting arranged by his
girlfriend.

McKenzie said he knew a lot about the May 15, 1998, robbery of Hussam
Tahhan, Safar's business associate and nephew. Tahhan was robbed by a
gunman in the parking lot of SouthTrust bank on West 44th Street after
withdrawing $50,000. The bank security guard at the time: off-duty police
officer Aric Sinclair.

McKenzie knew Sinclair as a beat cop in his Sherwood Forest neighborhood in
Northwest Jacksonville. Sinclair had aggressively pursued suspected drug
dealers to the point that numerous harassment complaints were filed against
him by those targets, while homeowners applauded him.

McKenzie said a neighborhood friend, Daryl Crowden, told him Sinclair was
running his own robbery and drug-selling ring.

Crowden, according to court records, was recruited by Sinclair to commit
crimes after Sinclair threw away cocaine he found on him during an arrest
in 1997. Crowden is an unindicted co-conspirator in the federal case,
having been linked to Sinclair in crimes including the Tahhan robbery.

McKenzie said Crowden told him about his dealings with Sinclair in early 1998.

"He said, 'I sold my soul to the devil,'" McKenzie said. "He said, 'You
know Quarter Head [Sinclair] who used to be around here harassing us in the
neighborhood?' He said, '[Sinclair] is dirty. Me and ... [Sinclair] are
doing licks [rip-offs] together.'"

Crowden, who has agreed to plead guilty to robbery in exchange for his
cooperation, could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Bob Willis,
declined to comment. Neither Sinclair nor his attorneys could be reached
for comment.

McKenzie said he was invited by Crowden to ride along to the SouthTrust
Bank the day of the Tahhan robbery. Already on board was Jeff Reed,
McKenzie's best friend and Crowden's half-brother. The mastermind, he said,
was Sinclair, who knew about Tahhan's comings and goings at the bank and
tipped off his recruits.

McKenzie said Crowden and Reed decided to drop him off at a shoe cleaning
store that Crowden owned rather than take him along. When the two returned,
they were pumped.

"They came back and they were smiling and laughing and everything,"
McKenzie said. "They went to the house where they pulled out the [stolen]
money and put it on the floor."

As the money was being counted, McKenzie overheard Crowden talking to
Sinclair on the phone about the robbery and how some of the money was
missing, court records show.

"McKenzie ... was there kind of keeping an eye on things so if anyone came
up he could distract them while the money was being counted," federal
prosecutor Jim Klindt said during a court hearing.

During his meeting with detectives 10 months later, McKenzie told them
about Sinclair and the robbery. He also mixed in what he thought was a
connection to the July 3, 1998, robbery and slaying of Sami Safar.

Sinclair was working security at the same SouthTrust Bank the day Safar
made a $50,000 withdrawal, then disappeared. He was found slain the next
day. Sinclair has been charged with providing information about Safar to
Waldon, who is accused of strangling Safar in the back of a police car.

"I told them that I knew about the murder of the Arab," McKenzie said.

As it turned out, McKenzie knew some of the same players and had first-hand
knowledge about the Tahhan robbery but had no first-hand knowledge about
the slaying.

The lead detective in the Safar case was Duckworth, who also began the
McKenzie investigation. Armed with details from that interview, the
detectives contacted the State Attorney's Office and had McKenzie take a
lie detector test.

He passed, yet few people at the Sheriff's Office, including the chief of
detectives and his assistant, were told. They only learned about the
polygraph months later -- after it was discovered missing when the case was
turned over to federal authorities.

The case drags on

State prosecutor Laura Starrett remembers being at the police station in
early March 1999 when she heard about the Sinclair investigation. She said
she even spoke to federal authorities about the probe a few days later
during a meeting on a separate case.

Starrett said she did not push for the feds to get involved in the Sinclair
case and took a wait-and-see approach with the Sheriff's Office rather than
hounding police about their progress.

"The Sheriff's Office told me what they had at that point," Starrett said.
"They were the investigating agency. They were to call me if they needed
anything. We were there primarily as legal advisers."

The investigation went from weeks to months, during which Duckworth got a
subpoena for Sinclair's financial records. Lt. Mark Foxworth,
then-commander of the homicide unit, said he remembers growing concerned
over the lack of developments in the case.

"I didn't feel like the investigation progressed as fast as it could," said
Foxworth, who retired last year. "I don't think we can blame it on any one
person. These are very difficult investigations."

Starrett said she had no reason to make a special effort to follow the case.

"I waited to hear from them," Starrett said. "I believe on one or two
occasions I asked what was happening and was told nothing or was told
nothing of any significance. Quite frankly the next time it came up was
when it came out," as federal authorities took over.

During that time, Aric Sinclair remained on the street as a narcotics
detective.

Sheriff's Office rocked

By September 1999, Glover realized he had a problem within his agency.

Three drug dealers arrested in August were chirping about making payoffs to
Sinclair for information about drug investigations. McKenzie said federal
agents met with him after one of the dealers, Abdul Robinson, told
authorities about the information McKenzie had provided to Jacksonville
detectives six months earlier.

Glover turned over the information to the U.S. Attorney's Office and a task
force made up of local, state and federal officers. A federal grand jury
also began looking into the case.

"There has been a breach of confidence, I suspect, in my office, and we are
pursuing that as a part of this investigation," Glover said at the time.

Then, two bombshells.

Detective Duckworth, called to give a briefing to the task force and other
authorities, said he had been told to back off on the investigation. He
gave few other details, including who told him, but the room was already
turned upside down.

Investigators tried to verify Duckworth's story but could find no one who
could confirm his allegation.

Some police officials speculate that Duckworth was referring to the load of
work placed on all homicide detectives during the disappearance of newborn
Kamiyah Mobley, who was snatched from University Medical Center about a
week after Safar's slaying and remains missing.

"Kamiyah Mobley turned the whole department upside down. The entire
homicide unit was working Kamiyah Mobley, as were other areas of the
detective division," said then-Assistant Chief of Detectives George
Lueders. "Could an investigation have slipped through the cracks during
that time period? I hope not."

No matter whether Duckworth was referring to the initial stages of the
Safar slaying or his follow-up on the McKenzie allegations, his colleagues
were furious about his allegation. A month later, the nine-year police
veteran was transferred from homicide to patrol.

"I gave no order to back off any investigation," Glover said.

Lueders said the allegation made no sense.

"I was angry about it because it would indicate that we were allowing a
crime to go uninvestigated," Lueders said. "I know that was not within me
or [Chief of Detectives] Rick Seibler, who was my boss. He was as
flabbergasted as I was."

Seibler declined to comment, as did Duckworth, whose evaluations during
that time period are filled with accolades about his work. None of
Duckworth's other supervisors said they gave such an order.

About the same time, investigators learned that a videotape and the machine
printout from McKenzie's polygraph were missing from a room inside the
police station. Investigators have little doubt the material was stolen,
though it's unclear why or by whom.

"Naturally anybody associated with the Sheriff's Office would like to think
we had a secure facility," Lueders said. "That document couldn't just walk
away."

Foxworth said he also remains puzzled by the disappearance.

"I'm as baffled by that as anybody," Foxworth said. "I have no idea where
it went or how it could have been taken out of that office."

Also curious? Darrick McKenzie.

"Why would they lose my polygraph saying that a police [officer] is
involved in all this?" McKenzie said.

'I fear for my life.'

It's unclear if a more thorough investigation of McKenzie's allegations
would have led to Sinclair's departure any sooner from the force or would
have prevented any illegal actions. The Safar slaying, for example,
occurred eight months before McKenzie first met with detectives.

And even though the polygraph is missing, the polygrapher's notes kept
separately clearly reflect that McKenzie passed and that evidence is ready
for the trial.

But there are a lot of people in law enforcement who are concerned about
how the Sheriff's Office handled the case. And there's one guy who would
have felt a lot better if action had been taken sooner.

To this day, Darrick McKenzie said he worries about repercussions and the
lack of concern he sees in those people sworn to protect him.

"I fear for my life," McKenzie said. "A lot."