FRIO COUNTY SHERIFF IS HELD IN DRUG CASE

Frio County Sheriff Carl Henry Burris was accused Tuesday of pocketing cash
seized from suspected drug dealers, and, in an elaborate effort to conceal
the crime, raising money by selling confiscated drugs.

In a court appearance, Burris remained shackled while federal prosecutors
charged him with stealing from a federally funded program -- the Frio
County government -- and with possessing marijuana with intent to distribute.

If convicted, Burris, a 51-year-old Democrat who won office in 1992, could
face up to 15 years in prison.

The charges stem from an investigation begun in 1996 when Burris' former
deputy and political rival Kenneth Zunker approached authorities, according
to a detailed FBI affidavit.

Zunker, a former Frio County deputy who in 1996 made an unsuccessful bid
for Burris' post, alleged his former boss stole $11,726 from suspected drug
dealers in 1994.

Aided by a drug-sniffing dog, Zunker had confiscated the money during a
routine traffic stop along Interstate 35 in Frio County, according to the
affidavit by FBI Special Agent Willie Dominguez Jr.

At the time of the seizure, Zunker's wife, Nelda, worked as secretary to
Burris.

She said Burris took the incident report from her before she had finished
typing it or had assigned it a case number, according to the affidavit.

She also stated she saw the chief deputy hand the seized cash to Burris and
that the $11,726 never appeared in bank accounts she balanced for the
Sheriff's Department.

"According to Deputy Zunker, Burris took a three-week vacation to Florida
beginning the week following the seizure," the affidavit states.

Prosecutors said they didn't know why Zunker approached the FBI in 1996,
two years after the confiscated money allegedly vanished and several months
following his unsuccessful run for the sheriff's post.

Approached by FBI agents in December 1996, Burris allegedly said the money
- -- minus a portion that was returned to the suspects -- remained in his safe.

He admitted he'd failed to report the seizure to the district attorney. And
he characterized his failure to deposit the money as an "oversight,"
according to the affidavit.

About two months later, an unidentified informant told authorities Burris
had given him 62 pounds of marijuana to sell.

The marijuana, the affidavit states, still bore the label indicating it
came from a 1994 Frio County bust by Texas Department of Public Safety
officers.

Burris, the informant alleged, hoped to cover his theft of cash by selling
the marijuana. The proceeds were to replace the missing seizure money,
according to the informant.

In the following weeks, authorities taped and filmed conversations and
meetings between Burris and the informant.

Burris, in one conversation, told the informant he wanted $5,500 for the
"60 Chevy," which authorities allege was a veiled reference to the 60
pounds of marijuana.

Agents then gave the informant $6,000 to pay the sheriff. Serial numbers on
nine of those bills, totaling $850, were found on bills that Burris later
produced as the seizure money for agents to count.

Throughout the short hearing Tuesday, Burris said little.

Asked by a federal magistrate if he wanted to hire a lawyer, Burris made an
unusual request.

"I want to talk to this one," he said, nodding toward the prosecutor,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Jahn.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Primomo appointed a public defender after
Burris, who according to the Frio County treasurer earns $29,000 per year,
said he couldn't afford his own attorney.

Primomo ordered the sheriff held overnight while authorities determine if
the veteran law officer poses a threat to his own safety. A bond hearing is
scheduled for today.

"There is some concern regarding his emotional state that has been
expressed to us," Jahn said.

Frio County law enforcement practices came into question last year in
connection with arrests by deputies of people who brought drugs, legally
prescribed by Mexican doctors, into the country.

Prosecutors sometimes dropped the charges after the defendants contributed
to a regional drug task force.

At the time, local law enforcement officials credited Zunker with making
the first of those arrests.

Checked-by: Richard Lake