TOP POLICE AGENCY LOSES 24 KILOS OF COCAINE

Guard Broke Into New Facility's 'theft-Proof' Evidence Vault With Coat Hanger

A security guard at the new, ultra-modern Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation headquarters used a wire coat hanger to steal 22 kilos
of cocaine seized by the Tennessee Highway Patrol as evidence in a
Dickson County, Tenn., narcotics case, according to high-ranking
Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials.

And fighting for his political life, TBI Director Larry Wallace, a
longtime political ally of Vice President Al Gore, is pulling out all
stops to keep the details of the incident out of the press.

Those same TBI officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say
Wallace, whose ongoing problems with securing evidence were detailed
in earlier WND reports, has been calling in favors from all over
Tennessee to keep the story from going public.

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation officials were unaware that the
cocaine was missing until a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer arrived
last week to pick up the evidence for trial. The TBI couldn't find
the cocaine or any record showing its disposition.

In an effort to track down the missing evidence, Wallace sent his
agents out to sheriffs' offices in the region asking whether TBI had
loaned it to them for a sting operation. A law enforcement tip to
reporter Scott Couch of WTVF-TV in Nashville led to a brief report of
the theft on Jan. 6. WSMV-TV in Nashville ran a more detailed account
on Jan. 9, based on a statement from Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation spokesman Mark Gwyn.

But the TBI statement left out the method the guard used to gain
entry to the evidence area, the actual amount of cocaine missing, the
amount of cash seized, and the fact that the cocaine was evidence in
a pending narcotics case. Confidential sources within TBI
headquarters have provided WND with further details of the incident.

Arrested in the case was 27-year-old Jody Mark Tolar, an employee of
a security firm subcontracted by Meridian Management of Florida.
Meridian has a five-year contract with the state of Tennessee to
provide security, custodial, maintenance and grounds care for TBI
headquarters. Both Tennessee General Services Deputy Commissioner Ed
Jones and Meridian Management refused to name the security firm,
although Jones confirmed that the state had approved Meridian
subcontracting the security for the building.

However, the state does not have a copy of the contract between
Meridian and the subcontractor, U.S. Security.

Wallace, the TBI's director since 1992, had lobbied the state
legislature for the new facility for several years. Chief among his
arguments for the $20.5 million appropriation was the inadequacy of
evidence storage at their former location. Evidence had been stored
in an old cafeteria, and TBI officials admitted to Commission on the
Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies program officer Steve
Mitchell that they illegally removed evidence from unsecured
locations in order to pass the commission's inspections.

Ignoring those admissions to Mitchell, CALEA renewed the TBI's
accreditation last August, about the same time that the new
headquarters was opened. At that ceremony, on Aug. 31, 2000, Wallace
called the building "the flagship of the criminal justice system in
Tennessee."

Despite those boasts, Tolar used a wire coat hanger to penetrate the
allegedly "theft-proof" evidence vault. The guard allegedly gained
entry through double-glass doors equipped with push-bars. The coat
hanger was slipped between the doors and then hooked around the bar.
Once pulled, the door opened with little effort. According to several
Tennessee narcotics officers, the missing cocaine had a street value
of $2 million or more.

An internal investigation led TBI agents to Tolar. According to the
official TBI statement, agents obtained a warrant and searched
Tolar's home, locating some 8 kilos of cocaine and an undisclosed
amount of cash. However, WND has learned that only 4 kilos were
discovered and that agents seized some $88,000 in cash. The remaining
16 kilos are still missing.

The narcotics case has now collapsed for lack of evidence. Tolar is
scheduled to appear in court tomorrow on drug conspiracy charges. Six
other people have been arrested, but Gwyn declined to name them,
although he noted that none of the six were employed by the TBI or
the security firm.

In a black eye to the embattled law enforcement agency, spokesman
Gwyn was forced to admit that a proper background check had never
been completed on Tolar, who is under indictment in Nashville for
reckless driving and a drug-related charge stemming from a March 17,
2000 arrest.

"We never received [a] background application on Tolar," was Gwyn's
only excuse for the lack of a background investigation. Gwyn was also
unable to provide the date that Tolar began working at the TBI
building and whether he had clearance to be in the evidence area.
Arrested with Tolar were six other individuals, but only one of
those, Dustin Driver of Nashville, was charged with conspiracy as
well.

This marks the second time in the last six months that reports of TBI
losing evidence have surfaced. The other was the case of Johnny
Moffitt, who was convicted of shooting his brother-in-law, Kenneth
Waller, to death in 1989. Moffitt's original conviction was
overturned by the State Court of Criminal Appeals in Jackson, Tenn.,
in 1999, which ruled that the trial judge gave incomplete
instructions to the jury and improperly excluded evidence that might
have given Moffitt a viable alibi.

Moffitt refused a plea bargain arrangement in January 1999,
maintaining his innocence and insisting that he was not guilty.
Circuit Court Judge Roy Morgan ordered a new trial, but Moffitt
agreed to the guilty plea last October because evidence that could
have exonerated him was lost by the TBI -- including the gun, his
jacket and the casings allegedly from the gun used in the shooting.
In yet another bizarre twist, after Moffitt consented to the guilty
plea, it was revealed that the TBI had lost all of the evidence in
the case and that a new trial would likely have resulted in Moffitt's
acquittal.

The incident is certain to further cloud Director Larry Wallace's
already cloudy future. After Wallace requested additional funding
from the state legislature specifically for security measures in the
new building, the theft of the cocaine may spur lawmakers to open an
investigation of the agency, once a respected law enforcement agency
and now having trouble securing its own headquarters.

Related stories:

Gore plays fixer to 'crooked' uncle

Officials say Gore killed drug probe

Charles C. Thompson II, a network news veteran and producer of both
ABC's "20/20" and CBS's "60 Minutes," is the author of "A Glimpse of
Hell: The Explosion on the U.S.S. Iowa and Its Cover-Up."

An experienced print journalist, Tony Hays' recent 20-part series on
narcotics trafficking received an award from the Tennessee Press
Association.