INTERVIEWS COMPLETE IN CASE OF DRUG TESTS

Police Now Waiting In Investigation Of Mayor's Son

Springfield police have completed interviews in an internal investigation
of expedited drug testing in a case against Mayor Tom Carlson's son, Chief
Lynn Rowe said Wednesday.

They are awaiting an outside overseer to review the politically charged
investigation before they announce findings, he said.

And in the weeks since the county prosecutor questioned why police rushed
testing in what he called a "routine" cocaine possession -- a case that
landed in his office the day before the April 5 mayoral election -- police
have begun requiring that police commanders, not officers, decide when to
request expedition for testing.

"We've inserted the supervisor in that process," Rowe said.

Police also got higher-ups involved in a second search of Tommy C.
Carlson's house in the 400 block of East Locust Street. That search
apparently turned up a small amount of marijuana.

"I don't know why they came and kicked my door in again," said Carlson, 23,
who was watching TV when police executed search warrants on March 1 and
later on April 27.

The younger Carlson said he hoped police had no political motivations but
asked: "Do you think if I wasn't the mayor's son that it would be such a
big deal?"

Questions have been raised as to whether evidence from the first search was
expedited in order to influence the mayoral race amid the city's disputes
with police over pay issues.

Rowe, wanting to retain public confidence in the department, appointed
Steve Rothlein -- deputy director of the Miami-Dade (Fla.) Police
Department and instructor of internal affairs for the International
Association of Chiefs of Police -- to oversee the internal investigation.

That seems like a good move to ensure fairness and the appearance of
fairness, said Sam Walker, a criminal justice professor at the University
of Nebraska at Omaha.

But Walker also said it raised concerns that the same police officer,
Travis Wilson, executed the second search warrant and remained involved in
the drug investigation even though the probe itself was under
investigation. Rowe has said the internal investigation began April 20.

There's no national standard for changing investigators when investigations
are called into question, Walker said. "It's a difficult call," he said.

Springfield police got supervisors directly involved in the second search
at Carlson's residence because of its sensitivity, said Rowe, who added
that he was notified prior to the second warrant's execution.

Marijuana allegedly seized at Tommy Carlson's residence has been submitted
for testing, Rowe said, but to his knowledge police didn't ask for
expedition this time. Wilson asked for expedition to confirm drugs the
first time, Rowe added.

Rowe, citing an ongoing investigation, would not say where the drug
investigation was going or what of significance it might have turned up.

Tommy Carlson is scheduled to appear in a Greene County courtroom Friday
morning on felony charge of possession of a controlled substance stemming
from the first search.

The chief declined to say whether the second search warrant was worthwhile
but said follow-up investigations are common: "It's very rare that we don't
go back and at least follow up on that in some way, shape or form, and
that's exactly what was done in this case," Rowe said.

Police cited an unspecified amount of marijuana, a bag with residue, straws
and a test kit, as well as a computer disk in a property submission report
police filed after the April 27 warrant. The report's stated charge:
misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. Rowe said Wednesday no
charges stemming from the second search had been filed.

It wasn't clear whether the cited disk contained photos of what police
seized or whether it was something they seized.

In preparation for that search, Wilson returned to Carlson's residence
around midnight on April 25 and retrieved two garbage bags sitting along a
curb outside, Wilson wrote in court records.

One bag contained approximately 5 marijuana stems and one marijuana seed,
and a bill addressed to a Thomas Carlson at Tommy Carlson's address. The
suspected marijuana tested positive in a field test, Wilson wrote.

Based on that information, Wilson wrote that he believed marijuana would be
located at Carlson's residence.

Wilson also noted that police seized a .38 caliber pistol in the first
search, and found various types of ammunition. Wilson went on to write that
two bullet holes were clearly visible in a phone book and wall of the home,
and that Carlson told police he had fired a handgun -- through the phone
book and into the wall -- to see if it would fire.

Based on that information, Wilson requested a "no knock search warrant" for
"illegal drugs and paraphernalia, drug notes and ledgers, drug money and/or
evidence of drug crimes."

Police later kicked in Tommy Carlson's door again.

According to a police report, Tommy Carlson told Wilson and his supervisor,
Sgt. Vance Holland, that he had been "drug-free since the previous search
warrant," and that he had since "kicked" out his roommate, who was charged
with misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Carlson, in an interview Wednesday, denied he told police he was drug-free
but said "nothing was here."

Carlson, who works doing maintenance and painting on rental properties,
said he hasn't used drugs for years.

"I didn't even know that stuff was here the first time" police searched the
residence, Carlson said.

He declined to say whose drugs were at his residence.

Overall, Carlson said, he had no hard feelings toward police for busting in
his door twice. "It's ruined," he said.

The second time police were chatty, talking about a club in town, their
assault weapons, why they came to his place.

"They were friendly," he said. "They were like ... my friends, hanging out
with me."