WEAPONS, DRUG GEAR REPORTEDLY FOUND IN COP'S ROOM

Investigators reported finding three guns confiscated from drug
dealers, a red devil-shaped bong and more than a dozen household
objects containing what they believe is cocaine after searching the
hotel room of a fellow narcotics officer last week.

Revealed in court documents filed Wednesday, the two semi-automatic
pistols and a .38-caliber revolver raise additional questions about
John Beauford, a supervisor with the Alamo Area Narcotics Task Force
who is accused of stealing cocaine from an evidence locker.

"We're looking into the possibility of those weapons being stolen,"
said Robert Rowe, resident agent in charge at the U.S. Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The serial numbers on the weapons allegedly recovered in Beauford's
hotel room match the serial numbers of guns previously seized by task
force agents and stored in the group's property locker, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Greg Surovic said.

Surovic said the firearms were supposed to be melted at a private
smelting operation. Investigators were trying to determine whether
Beauford, a Balcones Heights police officer and 10-year veteran of
law enforcement, was assigned to destroy the guns.

"Now we're trying to figure out why they weren't destroyed," Surovic said.

Additionally, investigators are conducting an audit to determine
whether other weapons, as well as more cocaine, are missing from
lockers in the nondescript North Side building that is the task
force's home.

Weapons and drugs are stored in separate lockers, and the search
likely will be a "slow process," said Converse Police Chief Rick
Jameson, project director for the task force made up of officers from
10 suburban police forces.

Beauford's attorney, Assistant Federal Public Defender Alfredo
Villarreal, declined to comment on the case.

Charged with possession with intent to distribute between 500 grams
and 5 kilograms of cocaine, Beauford tested positive for cocaine use
during a routine drug test required by policy after he had a fender
bender Feb. 8, according to a sworn statement filed in federal court
by a task force agent.

The affidavit states that, after a preliminary audit, task force
agents discovered 1.1 pounds of cocaine missing from a seizure that
Beauford, who sometimes logged in evidence after searches and
seizures, handled in January.

Beauford was arrested Feb. 21 after his task force colleagues
searched the hotel room he was living in and found, according to the
criminal complaint, 185 grams of cocaine.

A cream-colored powder that resembled cocaine was scattered around
the room in more than a dozen objects, including plates, plastic bags
and a sauce pan and a bullet container, according to a government
list filed in court Wednesday.

Agents also reported finding an electronic scale with an old task
force case number still attached, as well as more than 10 smoking
pipes, most made of glass.

The pipes reportedly included a "green and purple mushroom smoking
bong" and another one shaped like a devil.

In addition to three pistols, the agents reported finding Beauford's
service revolver, a .40-caliber semi-automatic Glock issued by the
Balcones Heights Police Department, and 33 loose bullets of the same
caliber.

Balcones Heights Police Chief Ken Menn said he is confident nothing
is missing from the suburban department's headquarters, where only an
assistant chief has access to the property room.

Menn said he recently informed Beauford, who was released on bond,
that he now faces administrative disciplinary action in addition to
the criminal charge.