DRUG-MONEY INVESTIGATION RESULTS IN 2 OFFICER INDICTMENTS

MEMPHIS -- Two police officers have been charged with pocketing department
funds following an 18-month investigation of alleged misuse of seized drug
money in the Memphis Police Organized Crime Unit.

Rodney Askew, 33, and Roosevelt Twilley, 32, were indicted Tuesday by a
Shelby County grand jury on felony charges of official misconduct. They
were both released after posting $1,000 bonds. They have also been relieved
of duty pending a hearing.

If convicted, they face up to two years in prison.

Early last year, The Commercial Appeal reported controls in the crime unit
were so lax that cash seized in drug investigations and stored in a
department vault was being used for everything from out-of-town travel to
overtime.

A state audit later detailed a "blatant lack of internal controls over
undercover cash operations" in the drug unit. Allegations against Twilley
and Askew first surfaced in that probe.

Auditors said the two men received $463 each to stay at a hotel in
Meridian, Miss., where they were attending a conference. They allegedly
complained that their rooms were unsatisfactory and received refunds. But
instead of returning the money to the unit, they pocketed it, according to
the audit.

In other unrelated findings, auditors reported more than 40 payments were
made to "apparently nonexistent" confidential informants.

Police Director Walter Crews said reform efforts would continue "until we
get these things fixed."

"I don't like it, but we are going to do what is expected of us," Crews said.

While the case involving the two officers was investigated by both state
and federal authorities, District Attorney General Bill Gibbons said
federal authorities were "reviewing the results of the investigation"
before deciding whether charges should be filed. But he said other
prosecutions could stem from abuses of funding in the unit.

During the past two years, the Memphis Police Department has had criminal
charges brought against several officers, including Yalanda McFagdon, a
former member of Mayor Willie Herenton's security detail. She was convicted
of concealing money for a marijuana ring and trying to thwart a search by
federal agents in her Bartlett home.