TULIA DRUG INVESTIGATION MAY BE YEARLONG EFFORT

National Attention Could Speed Justice Department Probe

TULIA - It could be a year before the U.S. Justice Department concludes its
investigation into a controversial 1999 drug bust here that sent dozens of
members of the community's black population to prison.

The FBI in Amarillo is handling the investigation for the Justice
Department and has interviewed nearly all of the 43 people arrested during
the bust, an FBI spokesman said Wednesday.

Of the 43 people arrested, 40 are black.

The FBI spokesman said these types of investigations typically move along
slowly, but he expects that this particular case will proceed faster
because of national media attention.

The Justice Department began investigating after the American Civil
Liberties Union filed a complaint in October.

The 7th District Court of Appeals in Amarillo dismissed charges last week
against Billy Wafer, one of the black men arrested in the bust. He will not
be tried for allegedly selling drugs to the undercover officer who
initiated the bust, Tom Coleman.

Wafer said he was interviewed by an FBI investigator recently for about one
hour. The investigator asked about Wafer's relationship with Coleman.

''I never met him,'' Wafer said. ''I saw him, but I never met him.''

The FBI spokesman said that investigators also plan to interview the
prosecutor in the drug cases, the local sheriff and Coleman.

''Tom Coleman is obviously the subject of our investigation,'' the FBI
spokesman said.

After interviews are completed, the information will be sent to the Justice
Department in Washington, D.C., where an unbiased official will review it,
the FBI spokesman said.

The Justice Department can choose to throw out the case or press criminal
charges, the FBI spokesman said.

He said the investigation is out of the ordinary.

''We do the civil rights investigations. They're not normally on undercover
operations,'' he said.