STATE: METH FOUND IN TRASH

Affidavit Alleges Drug, Paraphernalia Found At County Treasurer's Home

COLUMBUS, Kan. - A probable-cause affidavit used to support charges against
Cherokee County Treasurer Sharon K. Carpino alleges investigators found
methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in 1999 in the trash at her home on
Maple Street.

Carpino appeared Friday in Cherokee County Magistrate Court for a formal
reading of the charges against her. She faces two felony drug-possession
charges, a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, and
seven misdemeanor counts of permitting a false claim or falsifying expense
accounts.

Judge John White, an Allen County judge who is presiding over the case
after two Cherokee County judges disqualified themselves, did not ask
Carpino to enter a plea. One of her two attorneys, Chris Meek of Baxter
Springs, said she would enter a plea of innocent if prosecutors are
successful in their attempt to bind her over for trial after a preliminary
hearing.

White scheduled Carpino's preliminary hearing for 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 7.
Kent Lynch, Carpino's other attorney, said he and Meek will need at least
that much time to review evidence prosecutors have gathered against Carpino.

"This case is two years old, and from what we understand, the evidence is
voluminous," he said.

Finding what they believed to be methamphetamine Nov. 3, 1999, in Carpino's
trash confirmed for Cherokee County sheriff's investigators a tip from a
former treasurer's office employee who alleged that Carpino was a drug
user. When searching the trash, Deputy Brandon Ivy recovered a piece of
aluminum foil and two glass pipes from the trash, according to the affidavit.

A report prepared by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (CBI) laboratory
and dated April 20, 2000, states that methamphetamine was found on the
aluminum foil and that amphetamine and methamphetamine were found on both
pipes.

Meek said the way investigators allege they found the drugs indicated to
him they were focusing on individuals rather than attempting to investigate
crimes.

"I think what this is all about is that the sheriff's office was targeting
people, not crime," he said.

Carpino has filed a $1 million federal lawsuit against the county, Sheriff
Bob Creech, former Cherokee County sheriff's Lt. Roger Wormington and
Deputy Mickey Rantz, claiming that she was framed and that a wide range of
her constitutional rights were violated.

Meek told White he would like to see a report written by KBI agents after
they investigated Wormington, who resigned from the Sheriff's Department in
September 2000 just ahead of prosecutors citing a lack of credibility on
his part in ultimately dismissing 19 drug cases.

"We understand there has been an investigation of him," Meek said. "We
don't know if (Special Prosecutor Steve Angermeyer) can turn it over, but
we would like to have it."

The KBI investigated Wormington in the wake of what authorities said was
evidence he filed false reports and false probable-cause affidavits in
order to make arrests in drug cases. Carla Stovall, Kansas attorney
general, announced in April that she would not file any charges against
Wormington.

Court papers filed April 16 contain information about the charges against
Carpino. Wormington is listed as one of eight witnesses against her.

The affidavit of probable cause became a point of contention at a May 12
hearing when Meek objected because the affidavit had not been filed by
Angermeyer, the special prosecutor who is handling the case. That omission
delayed any matters from proceeding against Carpino until Friday.

The affidavit of probable cause was sworn to and signed by William C.
Delaney, KBI special agent in charge, on May 24.

"The information supporting this affidavit was obtained from reports by
Cherokee County Sheriff's Office personnel, including written and voluntary
statements by Sharon Carpino, by an accounting firm's audit, and from
vouchers and copies of checks," Delaney said.

After allegedly finding the aluminum foil and glass pipes containing small
amounts of methamphetamine residue in the trash at Carpino's home,
sheriff's investigators continued their investigation. On Dec. 3, 1999,
Wormington and Rantz interviewed Carpino and, according to the affidavit,
she admitted that she had "received money from Cherokee County for trips
she did not take." She also is alleged to have consented to a search of her
home. There, the affidavit states, Wormington and Rantz discovered what
they believed to be drug residue in a pink robe found in the bathroom.

They also allegedly found a red cocktail straw commonly used by
methamphetamine users to snort methamphetamine between the mattresses of
Carpino's bed, a square piece of aluminum foil on the kitchen floor, and
two glass vials in Carpino's vehicle. A KBI lab report revealed that small
amounts of methamphetamine residue were found on each item, according to
the affidavit.

Then on Dec. 13, the Sheriff's Department and then Cherokee County Attorney
Sam Marsh asked for the assistance of the KBI in the investigation.

The Springfield, Mo., accounting firm of Baird, Kurtz and Dobson was
brought into the investigation. An audit by the accounting firm indicates
that Carpino issued or authorized checks totaling $1,305 to be paid to
herself for purported reimbursement for false trips and expenses, according
to the affidavit. Three checks were issued from the special auto account on
April 19, April 21 and April 26, 1999, for a trip to Wichita in connection
with a Kansas County Treasurers' Association (KCTA) or a Kansas Association
of Counties' meeting on or about April 18.

"Neither organization was holding a seminar or conducting a meeting at that
time," the affidavit said.

The Kansas Association of Counties stages an annual legislative update
conference each year in mid-April at Wichita when the Legislature takes a
break before reconvening for its veto session.

Three other checks drawn from the special auto account on Aug. 9 and Aug.
20, 1999, were payable to the KCTA for registration in classes that were to
be conducted Aug. 10 and 11, 1999, at Topeka. The affidavit said that
Carpino did attend a dinner on the night of April 10, but that she did not
attend any of the classes. Nancy Lanier, the current treasurer of the KCTA,
said Carpino did attend the first of a two-day class entitled "Thinking
Outside the Box," but did not attend the second day.

According to the affidavit, a final check was written on Nov. 30, 1999, for
registration for a Kansas Association of Counties' conference. Carpino did
not attend any classes at the conference, according to the affidavit.