JUDGE TOSSES OUT CHARGES AGAINST MAN IN DRUG DEATH

NORFOLK -- Lloyd B. Tankersley Jr. walked out of federal court a free man
Monday after a judge dismissed charges that he supplied the club drug
Ecstasy to a young woman who later overdosed and died. This is the third
time prosecutors have failed to successfully bring drug charges against
Tankersley.

``Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God,'' Tankersley said after his release
from custody Monday.

Family and friends who gathered at the steps of the U.S. District Court
awaiting Tankersley's release condemned the government's actions. They said
Tankersley has never dealt drugs.

Tankersley was accused of supplying Ecstasy to several people, including
Shenley Streeter, 21, a sailor from Michigan who was stationed in Norfolk.
Streeter was found dead in her car on Sept. 12 in the parking lot of a
small shopping center on East Bay View Boulevard in Norfolk. An autopsy
showed she died from Ecstasy poisoning.

Tankersley was charged last week with manufacturing, distributing or
dispensing Ecstasy. He was not directly charged with Streeter's death.
However, the prison time for a conviction on the charges increases -- from
a maximum of 20 years to 20 years to life -- if the government can show
that the drug dealing led to someone's death.

The government said Tankersley had served in the Navy, but that could not
be confirmed. Friends said Monday that he served in the Coast Guard and had
jobs with a local radio station and as a cook.

Court records said that several unidentified witnesses told agents that
Streeter purchased Ecstasy from Tankersley on Sept. 9, took one of the
pills on Sept. 10 and then went back to Tankersley for more on Sept. 11.
The records do not indicate that Streeter purchased more than two pills
from Tankersley. When confronted by Norfolk police and federal agents,
Tankersley denied ever selling drugs, according to court records.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents first learned of Tankersley by
sifting through the garbage of a couple in Chesapeake who were arrested and
later convicted of manufacturing Ecstasy in their home.

As the investigation unfolded and more Ecstasy dealers were arrested,
several unidentified suspects named Tankersley as a dealer, court records
said. One informant told agents that Tankersley sold about 220 Ecstasy
pills during six months last year, the records said.

A complaint filed in federal court last week said Tankersley cried when
confronted by one of Streeter's friends about her death. He told the friend
he had given her only one pill, the complaint said.

Prosecutors on Monday were in court for a preliminary hearing to determine
whether there was enough evidence to present the case against Tankersley to
a grand jury.

Magistrate Judge Tommy E. Miller ruled that the government failed to
produce enough evidence, and ordered Tankersley freed. He did not explain
or elaborate on his decision.

When Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa R. McKeel tried to ask a question after
the decision, the judge snapped at her, ``Sit down.'' She declined to
comment afterward.

The government can now try to obtain an indictment from a grand jury,
bypassing the preliminary hearing stage. Officials in the U.S. attorney's
office said later Monday that a decision had not been made.

Earlier Monday, federal prosecutors dismissed a related charge against
Tankersley in favor of pursuing the drug charge that included Streeter's death.

Additionally, drug charges stemming from the same investigation and filed
June 3 in Virginia Beach Circuit Court were dismissed last week in favor of
the federal prosecution, officials said.

Tankersley's attorney, Larry M. Dash, an assistant federal public defender,
said he wasn't surprised by the judge's decision.

Friends and family were outraged that the government had brought a case
against him.

``I think it stinks,'' said Tankersley's mother, Laura Chapman. ``I just
give all praise to God,'' she said. ``I know he will bring the truth out.''

Tankersley ``did not ever sell drugs,'' said friend Chris Rabalais.