'A DRUG USER WHO BECAME A CROOK'

Addiction Eventually Put 93 Q Radio Personality Behind Bars

As radio personality "Dusty McGee," Craig Bryant Caudill seemingly had
it all -- looks, talent, charisma and ambition. But he had something
else as well: a growing cocaine addiction.

The first traits brought him success -- a high-profile slot on
KKBQ-FM, one of Houston's leading country radio stations. The last
trait took him on a dizzying, downward spin that last summer cost him
his job and left him on probation for drug possession.

Friends and co-workers hoped those traumatic events would be a
"wake-up call" to straighten out his life.

On Friday, though, Caudill, 29, awoke behind the bars of the Calcasieu
Parish Jail in Lake Charles, La., where he is being held for 18 armed
robberies in Lake Charles and Houston. Police say that Caudill, the
son of a television news anchorman, robbed as many as four businesses
a day to support a $600- to $1,000-a-day craving for crack cocaine.

Bond on the Louisiana charges, which Caudill likely will face before
being returned to Texas, was set at $225,000.

"I'm so shocked," said former KKBQ "93 Q Country" disc jockey Harley
Colt, who worked with Caudill.

"Dusty was such an awesome air talent. ... He had great aspirations.
He wanted to be in the movies. He loved radio.

"Now to think he may never get work in radio again."

Houston robbery Sgt. Warren Givens said officers believe Caudill
robbed as many as 16 local businesses during a five-day crime spree
last month. "He was a busy critter," Givens said.

Caudill was arrested April 18 and charged with two Interstate 10
convenience store robberies in Lake Charles. Houston police this week
linked him to the earlier crimes here.

Many of the victimized businesses were dry cleaning shops, hit during
slack periods in the afternoon. The largest single theft, for $7,000,
occurred at a Bellaire topless bar that employed him as a disc jockey.
The bar's manager declined to comment on the case.

"Just working at a place that sold alcohol was a violation of his
probation," Givens said.

"He wasn't a crook who became an addict, he was a drug user who became
a crook -- and he wasn't very good at it. He was in pretty bad shape.
He had pawned or sold everything he owned."

Police said a "rock" of crack cocaine can cost as little as $10 to
$20, and provide a high of about 30 minutes.

Givens said he interviewed Caudill at the Lake Charles
jail.

"He was remorseful," Givens said. "He was crying. But, then, he's
looking at the possibility of 20 years in prison."

Caudill first was arrested last July as South Houston police spotted
him and "93 Q" colleague Stephen Shane DeBusk, who broadcast as "Shane
Rambeaux," sniffing cocaine outside a nightclub.

Both men were placed on probation and left the Houston station. Givens
said police believe Caudill began using highly addictive, smokeable
crack cocaine sometime later, after his father died.

"It was really downhill from there," Givens said.

DeBusk, now employed in West Texas, said terms of his probation have
prohibited him from seeing or talking with Caudill.

"All the mistakes you make in life," he said in a telephone interview,
"either you learn from them or you don't. You move on and better
yourself or you don't. I've done my penance and cleaned up my life.
Dusty -- he's a great guy, you know -- had a problem and apparently
still does."

Colt described Caudill as "a rare talent."

"He was quick-witted, always light-hearted," she said. "He had an
ability to relate to people on the air. He was fun to listen to."

Shortly before his first arrest, though, she said, his behavior
puzzled her. She worried something might be wrong.

"He would start showing up late for his air shifts," she said. "I
couldn't understand that. It was so unprofessional. He always had
excuses. He said he had to go to the doctor. But something didn't
quite make sense."

KKBQ General Manager Don Troutt described Caudill as "disarmingly
social."

"He was so genuine," Troutt said. "He related to the audience. He
liked the audience. ... He was the best drug addict I ever saw. He was
capable of hiding that."

"Honestly," added DeBusk, "he could fit in with anyone, in any
situation. He could run around with the folks in Pasadena and the
folks in River Oaks, and no one would think there was any difference.
He was almost a chameleon."

Program Manager Timothy Murphy said radio fans have called the station
to express concern about Caudill's arrest -- even though the disc
jockey hasn't worked there in almost a year.

"Radio is different from television," he said. "It's more personal.
One on one. People think of radio personalities as their friends."

Caudill had worked at the station about three years at the time he was
dismissed.

"I do believe broadcast talent in general, TV and radio, has a real
challenge to deal with egos," Troutt allowed. "They do feel like
they're bullet-proof from time to time. I've heard -- and this is just
rumor -- that there are TV talents who have problems with drugs.

"The thing is: Drugs can do you in, no matter who you are. I think
there's a big lesson in all this."