ARREST'S EFFECT ON DRUG CASES EYED

For the second time in recent months, federal prosecutors in San Antonio
are checking to determine whether police misconduct has polluted drug cases.

In recent months, the U.S. attorney's office has dropped charges in three
drug cases undermined by an officer's false statement.

While the misstatement by a San Antonio police officer was described as
sloppy but not criminal, the arrest Wednesday of a Balcones Heights police
officer stemmed from allegations of drug trafficking.

John D. Beauford, who handled evidence for the multiagency Alamo Area
Narcotics Task Force, has been charged with possession with intent to
distribute between 500 grams and 5 kilograms of cocaine.

An investigation before Beauford's arrest indicated that 1.1 pounds, or
roughly a half-kilo, of cocaine was missing from the task force evidence
locker.

The missing cocaine is related to a federal investigation in Laredo. Still
ongoing, that probe has yet to produce an indictment, and agents are
determining whether the missing drugs will affect the case, a Drug
Enforcement Administration spokesman said.

Likewise, federal and local prosecutors said they must evaluate whether
Beauford's arrest will taint any cases he aided as a task force supervisor.

"Obviously he can't be used as a witness," said Assistant U.S. Attorney
Greg Surovic, who oversees federal drug cases in San Antonio and who is
handling Beauford's case.

Thus far, federal prosecutors have identified two pending cases involving
the task force. An initial review suggested Beauford was not a key witness
in either.

Surovic said further examination is necessary to determine what role, if
any, the officer played in handling evidence.

The U.S. attorney's office said it also may examine whether Beauford had
crucial roles in cases already closed -- if an investigation turns up
evidence of Beauford abusing drugs over a long period.

Balcones Heights officials have said Beauford passed a drug screen in
October, but authorities say he failed a drug test earlier this month.

As a supervisor in the Alamo Area Narcotics Task Force, Beauford was
required by policy to take the drug test after a Feb. 8 fender bender,
according to court documents outlining the government's accusations.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Durbin said there was some indication that
more drug evidence may be missing from some closed cases.

Reached by phone Friday, Beauford said his attorney had advised him not to
discuss the accusations publicly.

Task force agents Wednesday said they found 185 grams of cocaine in
packages scattered around the hotel room where he had been living.

If convicted, the 33-year-old faces between five and 40 years in prison.

A law officer for 10 years whose family has recently experienced some
personal and financial turmoil, Beauford could not meet his comrades' eyes
after his arrest, according to superiors.

"I know he's feeling pretty badly, and so are the agents," said Converse
Police Chief Rick Jameson, project director for the task force, a federally
funded partnership among 10 suburban police departments.

Jameson said task force agents still are conducting an audit to determine
whether anything else is missing or altered in their evidence locker.

Narcotics investigators' jobs are rife with conditions and temptations that
push some toward drugs, said Timothy Dimoff, a former narcotics detective
for 15 years.

These conditions include long, stressful hours spent investigating thugs
who often earn far more than the officers pursuing them.

Add to that "financial pressures, relationship pressures, and you have the
potential for abuse," said Dimoff, now president of SACS Consulting and
Investigative Services Inc., an Ohio agency that advises employers on
substance abuse issues in the workplace.

Last month the mobile home owned by Beauford's mother where he once lived
became the target of a back-taxes lawsuit filed by Bexar County.

Beauford, whose annual salary is $30,650, also separated in June from his
wife of about four years.

Felipa Beauford described her spouse as a good husband, a kind father to
his stepchildren and devoted to his badge.

State records show Beauford's law-enforcement career began a decade ago
when he became a deputy sheriff in LaSalle County.

He joined the Balcones Heights department in 1996.

Thrilled when he got the task-force assignment in 1997, Beauford started
taking college classes about a year ago in hopes of becoming an agent for
the Drug Enforcement Administration, his wife said.

"That was his dream. That's what he loved to do. He loved being a police
officer," she said. "He loved getting bad people off the streets."

Felipa Beauford said she saw no sign of anything that would lead to drug
charges when she and her husband parted ways.

"Not in a million years would I think he'd do something like that," she
said. "I want to know why."