FORMER DPS OFFICER TARGETED

AUSTIN A retired Texas Department of Public Safety narcotics commander is
targeted in a state and county investigation of how he handled cash and
jewelry.

The Texas Rangers have recovered $231,633 in cash and jewelry including
Rolex and Tag Heuer watches, gold rings and chains from Tommy Arp, a court
document showed.

Tela Mange, a DPS spokeswoman, told the Austin American-Statesman in
Thursday's editions that the agency was investigating a "former employee and
his handling of entrusted property during an investigation."

The court document stated the jewelry, valued at about $100,000, also
included French coins and a gold Playboy bunny key.

No charges have been filed against Arp, who retired from the agency in
December. Arp's lawyer, Joe Turner, said the investigation is unfounded.

"All of that is wrong," said Turner. "He hasn't been accused of anything.
Just because it is in the court documents doesn't make it true."

Turner said his client was entrusted with the cash and jewelry, which he
said was part of a criminal case in Houston.

"He's never denied that he had that money," said Turner. "He was the
custodian of the money."

The Travis County district attorney's office is assisting in the
investigation into whether a crime was committed, the newspaper reported.

The DPS has faced other internal investigations. A former agency crime lab
fingerprint analyst, Diana Boyd Monaghan, was indicted in December on
charges of falsifying fingerprint reports on evidence she never tested.

Grand jurors who indicted Monaghan later issued a report calling on
lawmakers to investigate "what appears to be a total lack of supervision and
managerial oversight in one of the most important crime-fighting offices
within the state of Texas," referring to the Department of Public Safety
crime lab.