OFFICER AT MART TYC FACILITY CONVICTED OF DEALING COCAINE

A juvenile correctional officer at the Texas Youth Commission facility in
Mart was placed on felony probation Tuesday after his conviction as a
cocaine dealer.

Judge George Allen of Waco's 54th State District Court placed Patrick
Dewayne Jones, 20, of Waco on probation for six years and ordered him to
perform 500 hours of community service.

Jones, who told the judge that the first-degree felony conviction should
have no bearing on his employment status, pleaded guilty March 29 to
possession of cocaine with intent to deliver.

Jones started working as a juvenile correctional officer at the McLennan
County State Juvenile Correctional Facility in Mart three days after he
pleaded guilty to the drug charges, said John Hopkins, the TYC facility's
superintendent.

Hopkins said Jones applied for a job at the facility in January, stating on
his application that he had not been convicted of a crime. The application
does not ask about arrests, Hopkins said, and a criminal background check
on Jones, who also has used the last name Minter, did not reveal his June
9, 2000, arrest during a police sweep of a known crack house on North 19th
Street.

"We checked today and there is still nothing that came up on him," Hopkins
said Tuesday. "Evidently, there is a delay in getting the information to
the (Department of Public Safety). We will be investigating this, and if
indeed this is true, then it will, in fact, affect his employment here."

Hopkins said policy dictates that no one with a felony conviction can work
for the TYC.

"Our policy requires that if you get a speeding ticket, you report it to
human resources," Hopkins said. "Anything as minor as that you have to
report. This occurred before he was an employee. It looks like he pleaded
out the day before he came to work, but he didn't misstate anything on his
application."

Jones' attorney, Ron Moody, said it would be a "damn shame" if Jones loses
his job.

"All I know is that this young man took an 80-hour course of study and
passed it and his (report by probation officers) was excellent. The
probation officer recommended probation, so it was not like it was a hinky
deal or anything. I hate it that he is going to lose his job, but if that
is policy, it is policy."

Prosecutor Matt Johnson recommended that Jones be sentenced to six years in
prison on the drug charge, but neither opposed nor recommended probation.
The judge ordered a background report by the probation department before
sentencing Jones.

Jones was among three others arrested at what police called in reports "a
house that is strictly nothing more than a crack house." No one lived at
the residence in the 1700 block of North 19th and the only furniture in the
house was a TV, two sofas and a radio, police reports indicate.

"The house was used solely for the purpose of distributing cocaine," a Waco
drug enforcement officer wrote in his report.

When officers arrived, Jones jumped from a back porch and tried to climb a
fence in the back yard before an officer grabbed him. The officer said that
Jones threw a pill bottle that contained 35 "rocks" of crack cocaine that
weighed 9.7 grams.

The officers also recovered 78 other rocks of crack, some marijuana, crack
pipes, scales and two pistols and a rifle at the house, reports indicate.

Prosecutors dismissed a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge against
Jones as part of the plea bargain.