MORE DRUG EVIDENCE MISSING

DELAND -- The planned independent audit of the Sheriff's Office evidence
compound will begin Monday -- a week after it was revealed that more drugs
and other evidence were discovered missing.

A six-person team from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will work
for an expected seven days to inspect the drugs, weapons and money at the
facility that houses the Sheriff's Office's nearly 60,000 evidentiary items.

It was there that Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said 370 pounds of
marijuana and nearly 900 grams of cocaine were stolen and an employee was
responsible for the theft.

Johnson suspected more drugs may have been stolen and the sheriff was right.

Almost 600 more pounds of marijuana is missing, said Gary Frazee, Sheriff's
Office director for professional standards. He said these drugs were housed
in the same location as the other missing drugs and likely disappeared by
the same means. He would not specify a suspect.

The latest findings brings the total value of missing drugs to just more
than $1 million.

Frazee and a team of auditors have been weighing and inspecting the
packages of drugs, a process that has been ongoing for several months.

Timothy W. Wallace, 47, the former evidence manager, was charged with
conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and conspiracy to traffic in marijuana. He
is out of jail on $300,000 bail and could face up to 30 years in prison if
convicted.

Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said another piece of non-drug evidence
taken from the compound has been recovered. He said investigators received
information about an item, originally seized during a criminal
investigation, that was given to someone outside the department. Davidson
said investigators matched the serial number on the item to that in the
evidence computer system.

He would not comment on what the specific item was, citing the ongoing
criminal investigation by FDLE.

Frazee said the evidence facility houses "everything you could imagine - -
from a broken piece of glass with a fingerprint to Rolex watches."

Frazee said investigators have completed the internal audit of drugs and
have begun checking weapons and money.

"We're not going to find any more drugs (missing)," Frazee said, adding no
money or weapons are missing so far. He said he doesn't expect to find any
weapons missing.

When they arrive Monday, FDLE agents will inspect 100 percent of the drugs
and will spot-check the weapons and money unless they find something
missing, Frazee said.