BENSENVILLE COPS TAINTED BY CHARGES OF TAMPERING

The Bensenville Police Department is seeking to fire an officer charged
with tampering with evidence and lying about his official conduct.

Meanwhile, a sergeant who once headed the department's detective division
was put on administrative leave Wednesday after an investigation of
evidence taken in drug and gambling cases, police said.

Sgt. Joseph DeAnda was reassigned last year to street duty after federal
agents raided his parents' Bensenville tavern.

Officer William Wassman, who was in charge of storing evidence from 1993
until June 1996, was alleged to have taken cocaine he had said he destroyed
and relabeled it for use against drug suspect David Poters, though the
cocaine was not related to Poters' case, said Acting Police Chief Craig Grude.

The cocaine was used to convict Poters of possession of a controlled
substance. He was sentenced to 2 years' probation in 1996.

After a yearlong internal investigation, village officials referred
Wassman's alleged actions to the DuPage state's attorney's office for a
criminal investigation. He was indicted Feb. 26.

"Based on the facts alleged in the statement of charges, it is the
village's position that Officer Wassman is unfit to continue as a law
enforcement official," Grude said in a written statement.

Wassman also is accused of altering other officers' written statements that
they had seen him destroy drugs seized in arrests; failing to produce
cocaine evidence needed to prosecute a case after being ordered to preserve
it; and falsely notarizing the signature of Club Latino owner Jose DeAnda
on a liquor license renewal form.

The nightclub closed last year after an FBI drug-trafficking investigation.
Jose DeAnda is the father of Joseph DeAnda.

Wassman has been on paid administrative leave since December. He will be on
unpaid suspension until the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners rules on
the request to dismiss him.

Joseph DeAnda will draw a salary during his leave, police said.

The results of an investigation, which were turned over to the DuPage
County state's attorney, focus on DeAnda's possible misconduct involving
$6,000 connected to drug and gambling seizures, police said.