AUDIT $3 MILLION IN DRUGS GONE

Guns, Cash Also Missing From Evidence Room

An investigation into evidence room abuses at the Memphis Police
Department has revealed that nearly $3 million in drugs, $147,000 in
cash and dozens of seized guns could not be located.

The details were released yesterday as part of a state audit prepared
to help federal authorities investigating the case.

Police officials, who initially discovered the problem and asked for
help from the FBI, said the investigation has sent a message through
the department.

''What it has done, it has helped to impress on everybody our
commitment to integrity,'' said police Deputy Director Ray Schwill.
''We wanted to do the right thing.''

So far, 16 people, including two civilian employees but no
commissioned police officers, have been charged in a scheme that links
thefts from the evidence room to a cocaine ring. Five of those
defendants have pleaded guilty.

The audit by state Comptroller John Morgan found that 116.6 kilograms
of cocaine, with a street value estimated at $2,332,408, and 559.9
pounds of marijuana, with a street value estimated at $447,876,
''could not be accounted for.'' Morgan said that about $147,000 in
cash and 66 guns also could not be found.

The FBI said it's possible all of the items noted in the audit were
stolen, but could not offer specifics on the ongoing
investigation.

''I'm not suggesting that the FBI has accounted for each and every
item missing yet,'' said George Bolds, Memphis FBI spokesman.

Schwill said he assumes it has been stolen, not just lost in a bad
accounting system. ''Obviously we had a problem, a pretty big
problem,'' he said.

Morgan said auditors warned the agency about problems in its evidence
room in 1999, three years before they began investigating the thefts.
Those problems weren't fixed, the auditors wrote.

In a response to the auditors, Police Director James Bolden said
changes - including better oversight and a surveillance camera - are
being made to make sure similar situations can't happen again.