BOMBSHELL

SALISBURY -- Reports by a former Salisbury police lieutenant assigned to

spy on an undercover drug operation are fueling Mayor Barrie Parsons
Tilghman's effort to oust Coulbourn Dykes from his post as city police chief.

A 2-inch thick black briefing binder Tilghman gave to City Council members
May 22 documents Shelley A. McKinney's allegations Dykes mismanaged funds
derived from the sales of cars seized during undercover drug operations.

Dykes was placed on unpaid administrative leave Monday, pending a hearing
on Tilghman's charges Dykes is guilty of neglect of duty, inefficiency and
disreputable conduct. Tilghman has also requested the council reinstate
McKinney to her position on the police force.

Tilghman further stated in a May 22 memo that she believed former City
Council President Carolyn Hall did not share with council McKinney's April
27 resignation letter that outlined McKinney's allegations of misconduct by
Dykes.

McKinney alleges she was ordered to spy on members of the Wicomico County
Narcotics Task Force during an internal audit of Salisbury's disposal of
seized vehicles. As part of the 11 year-old undercover drug team, Salisbury
police were responsible for disposing of vehicles and putting the proceeds
back into the WINTF budget.

In the binder given to the council last month, Tilghman outlined numerous
charges against Dykes and Steve Hitch, the man hired by WINTF to sell the
cars.

Among the charges leveled by McKinney:

- -- An $8,000 1988 Ford Tempo was sold to local NAACP chapter chairman
Warren White for $160 and Dykes falsified a bill of sale to allow White to
have the car titled in his name.

- -- Dykes never recorded a purchase price for 36 cars handled by the task
force, including a $10,000 1988 Mercedes.

- -- Hitch traded two cars in exchange for getting the carpets in his home
and insurance agency cleaned.

- -- A $15,000 1988 Harley Davidson was sold for $3,500 to William P. Hearne
Jr. in 1994. McKinney alleges Hearne also gave Hitch a $5,000 donation on
the same day and that Hitch ignored a $10,000 offer from a police officer
for the bike.

- -- A $550 check for a 1989 Dodge Shadow and $2,100 for four other vehicles
never made it into the WINTF account. Instead, McKinney alleged, the money
was deposited into an account for a fictitious business named ``Salisbury
Practical Shooting Supplies.''

McKinney claims Salisbury police Maj. Jeff Livingston ordered her to spy on
the task force in September 1997, because Dykes was concerned WINTF members
were not working and the group's record keeping was ``extremely flawed.''

McKinney said she discovered no problems with the performance of the task
force, but found the proceeds from the vehicles being sold were not being
deposited in the WINTF account.

McKinney's 14-page memo said she informed WINTF spokesman Wicomico County
Sheriff R. Hunter Nelms of her findings and was told by Nelms he thought it
was a matter of poor paperwork and documentation. McKinney, however, said
she felt the problems went deeper than bad bookkeeping.

The documents allege McKinney ran into several roadblocks with Salisbury
police officials, including now-interim Police Chief Col. Ed Guthrie,
Livingston and Dykes.

Claiming Hitch lied to her about the sale of the 1988 Mercedes, McKinney
declined Nelms' request to be on a second WINTF audit team Nov. 19, 1997,
and said she was ``tired of being in the middle of Chief Dykes and his
friends.'' McKinney added she felt ``extremely intimidated'' by Dykes and
``feared reprisals from him.''

McKinney resigned from the police department following an April 24, 1998,
episode in which she alleges Guthrie and Livingston told her that her
husband, Salisbury Police Lt. Charles McKinney, was being accused of
conducting an investigation regarding the task force.

Shelley McKinney said the administration then ordered her transferred to a
shift opposite her husband's, creating a severe hardship for her and her
family.

In Tilghman's memo to council members, the mayor said her review of Shelley
McKinney's records led her to believe it is inconceivable the
irregularities and improprieties occurred without Dykes' knowledge.

``The conclusion seems inescapable Chief Dykes handled these matters either
corruptly or incompetently,'' Tilghman stated.

Checked-by: Richard Lake