EX-POLICE OFFICER GETS PROBATION IN DRUG CASE

A former Jefferson County police officer pleaded guilty yesterday to three
charges of obtaining prescription drugs through fraud or deceit.

Scott D. Shearer, 32, was sentenced to five years of probation by Jefferson
Circuit Judge Lisabeth Hughes Abramson. If he violates the terms of
probation, Shearer, of Grandview Avenue in St. Matthews, could be sent to
prison for five years.

In an agreement with the prosecutor, charges that Shearer robbed six
Hispanic men were dismissed.

Prosecutor Allan Cobb said yesterday that five of the six accusers could
not be located and the sixth had changed his story and would not cooperate.
All were itinerants, he said.

"We had to make do with the best we had, which was the drug charges," Cobb
said. "My main goal was to make sure that he's never ever in law
enforcement again, and with these felony convictions he won't be."

Shearer was fired and indicted in November 2001 on charges that he stole
money from the wallets of six men in Jeffersontown.

He was accused of taking cash from four men he confronted on Aug. 8, 2001,
at the Red Roof Inn on Hurstbourne Parkway. The men did not call police,
but a clerk contacted the men's employer after an officer asked her for
their room number and told her not to tell anyone, Jeffersontown police said.

Shearer was also accused of robbing two men he stopped at an apartment
complex, one on July 12, 2001, and the other on July 30, 2001.

That indictment included a charge of obtaining or attempting to obtain a
controlled substance by fraud or deceit.

A subsequent indictment added two more charges of obtaining or attempting
to obtain a controlled substance by fraud or deceit. According to the plea
agreement, Shearer obtained OxyContin by misrepresenting his medical
history and existing prescriptions.

At the time of the firing, Jefferson County Police Chief William Carcara
said Shearer had violated the department's truthfulness policy during an
internal investigation.

Under the plea agreement, Shearer must forfeit his gun, which Cobb said is
in police custody as evidence. He also can have only one primary-care
doctor and one pharmacy, and cannot visit an emergency room unless he has a
medical emergency.

"Scott's extremely happy that this matter is behind him," Maury Kommor,
Shearer's attorney, said yesterday in an interview. Shearer is now in
graduate school "and quite frankly is glad to be leaving" police work,
Kommor said.