TROOPER'S TESTIMONY TO BE PROBED

A Polk County prosecutor who freed a cocaine suspect after learning that a
Florida Highway Patrol trooper misled a judge has launched an investigation
into the possibility that other cases might be tainted.

Assistant State Attorney Brad Copley subpoenaed Trooper Douglas Strickland
Dec. 23, ordering him to appear in the State Attorney's Office in Bartow for
questioning.

The meeting, originally set for Tuesday, was changed to 1:30 p.m. Thursday,
according to Maj. Ken Howes, patrol spokesman. Howes declined to comment
further, except to say that Strickland plans to comply.

Neither Copley nor State Attorney Jerry Hill would discuss the subpoena or
the scope of the investigation Tuesday, but the questioning follows
Strickland's bombshell testimony in federal court in Tampa in December.

Called to the stand by three men indicted on cocaine charges, the trooper
admitted he and his colleagues have routinely filed incomplete and
misleading affidavits to protect federal agents involved in reverse stings.

The subpoena does not necessarily mean that Strickland is facing charges.
Investigative subpoenas issued by the state typically come with a promise of
immunity. During last month's federal hearing, Copley said he agreed not to
charge Strickland because he believed the FBI directed the trooper to lie.

The FBI has repeatedly denied the allegation. The state does not have the
authority to pursue the federal agency but could prosecute individual agents
if it can be proved they violated state law.

Copley also testified that he is concerned about the ramifications
Strickland's testimony could have on past drug convictions and future
prosecutions.

The issue at the federal hearing was Strickland's handling of a May 19,
1998, arrest on Interstate 4. The trooper filed a report saying he stopped
to help motorist Michael Leonard Flynn who was stranded when his car
stalled.

Strickland wrote that he ``grew suspicious'' when Flynn, 40, of Orlando,
refused to open his trunk. After calling out a drug-sniffing dog, Strickland
said, his partner searched the car and found 220 pounds of cocaine.

But Strickland failed to tell the Polk County judge who was setting bail
that he was working with the FBI. The trooper knew there was cocaine in the
trunk because he had watched undercover officers load it earlier that day.

Investigators now acknowledge that Flynn was an unsuspecting participant in
a reverse sting - a setup in which agents pose as drug suppliers and
``sell'' cocaine to unwitting middlemen. The middlemen are later arrested.

In this case, prosecutors say, Flynn and two co-defendants, Norman Dupont
and Dewey Davis, paid an initial fee of $200,000 for the cocaine. When the
undercover agents loaded the drugs into the car, they secretly installed a
remote-controlled device that forced Flynn's engine to stop running.

The trooper's representation prompted the judge to set a $1 million bail.
When Copley learned of the false affidavit, however, he refused to
prosecute.

``We rely on law enforcement officers to be truthful and accountable as they
carry out their tasks,'' he said then.

Despite the state prosecutor's action, the U.S. attorney's office is
continuing its efforts to put Flynn, Dupont and Davis on trial.

On Tuesday, the office said it did not ``sponsor'' the affidavit nor the
trooper's conduct.

``The United States wholly agrees that the court is entitled to the simple
truth on all occasions,'' prosecutor Jim Preston wrote in court papers.
``The United States Attorney's Office regrets that the affidavit presented
to the state court contained inaccuracies.''

Nonetheless, Preston argued, the trooper's conduct does not change the fact
that the three defendants ``willingly entered this criminal partnership.''

A federal magistrate ruled that the charges can stand but is expected to
decide this week whether to reconsider her decision.