EX-COP PLEADS GUILTY IN DRUG CASE

Clemmie Tucker Sr. To Join Son In Prison

Retired St. Paul police officer Clemmie Howard Tucker Sr. soon will
join his son behind bars.

In another tough day for the Tucker family, the 55-year-old former
cop pleaded guilty Thursday to possessing more than 500 grams of a
methamphetamine mixture, with a plan to distribute it.

His son, Clemmie Tucker Jr., 34, was sent to state prison after
pleading guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in the death of
Angelina B. Garley in June 2005.

The elder Tucker, who retired with a disability eight years ago after
23 years on the force, issued a tearful plea before U.S. District
Judge Joan Ericksen in Minneapolis. A sentencing hearing has yet to
be set, but Tucker faces a minimum of 10 years in federal prison.

A second charge, relating to cocaine possession, is expected to be
dropped at the sentencing hearing, said Tucker's attorney, Anthony
Spector of Minneapolis.

The government charged in June that Tucker, a St. Paul resident,
tried to retrieve 12 pounds of methamphetamine and 22 pounds of
cocaine at the Greyhound bus depot in downtown Minneapolis, much of
it hidden in the hollowed-out legs and body of a boxed-up, dismantled
table. The drugs had a street value of about $4 million, authorities said.

Thursday's admission of guilt marked a dramatic descent for the
former officer, Golden Gloves boxer and gym operator.

According to the federal complaint, the father used the names "John
Mason" and "John Hall" and also identified himself as an officer
while attempting to pick up a box and suitcase from the bus depot.

When a depot guard said he couldn't release the box and suitcase
without proper identification, Tucker reached into the suitcase and
pulled out a photograph of a St. Paul police officer posing with a
dog. Tucker told the guard that he was the officer in the photograph,
the complaint said.

The guard told Tucker he didn't believe him and then opened the box,
which contained pieces of a dismantled table. The guard said Tucker
became evasive and suddenly walked outside to his car and retrieved a
shipping tracer form.

Still unconvinced, the guard refused to release the box and suitcase.
As Tucker left, he made what the guard considered to be a threatening
gesture, the criminal complaint said. The guard then called police
and, while waiting for officers, examined the table legs. He said he
heard what sounded like a granulated substance inside. Greyhound
personnel broke open a table leg and found a crystal substance.

Narcotics investigators obtained a search warrant and examined the
box and suitcase. They found 22 pounds of cocaine and 8 pounds of
methamphetamine in the legs and body of the table. They also found
about 4 pounds of methamphetamine in the suitcase.

Officers searched Tucker's Chrysler 300M and recovered a distinctive
cigar-shaped bottle of cologne. They had found a similar bottle in
the suitcase, which contained methamphetamine.

Also found in the suitcase was blood-pressure medication that matched
a prescription receipt found in Tucker's wallet at the Hennepin
County jail when he turned himself in.

Tucker joined the St. Paul police force in 1975 and worked in the
department's canine unit in the 1980s. Eleven commendations are noted
in his personnel file, but Tucker also faced discipline 14 times. He
received written or oral reprimands for all but two.

A woman who answered the door at the Tuckers' home Thursday in St.
Paul declined to comment.