ASHEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT EVIDENCE AUDIT TO COST $175K

Three Investigated Over Missing Items

ASHEVILLE - The Police Department will use $175,000 in drug seizure
money to pay for an audit of its evidence room after guns, drugs and
money disappeared, city officials said Wednesday.

Three people are under investigation, and two of them, police
employees assigned to the evidence room, have been suspended with pay
after nearly 400 oxycodone prescription painkillers were found
missing April 1, District Attorney Ron Moore said.

"Anybody who had access to it has to be investigated," he said.

One of those under investigation is William Lee Smith, a 20-year
property control specialist, who was suspended with pay Feb. 18 then
resigned 24 days later.

State law and an ongoing investigation by the State Bureau of
Investigation have prevented officials from saying why Smith was
being investigated.

Smith received high marks as late as 2008 by the Commission on
Accreditation for Law Enforcement, whose reviewers said he was "an
exceptional employee for the city and agency" and also praised the
way in which the evidence room was run.

City officials, meanwhile, expressed dismay over the missing pills
and other evidence. A sample audit of 1,097 "high-risk" items begun
after Smith's resignation, showed 27 guns, 54 containers of drugs and
34 packages of money and valuables missing.

Since that time, the property room has been sealed and Moore said
he's begun looking into 2,200 cases that might be affected. He has
already dropped drug trafficking charges against defendant Terry Lee
Landrum because of the missing oxycodone and set free on bond four
defendants awaiting trails for violent crimes, including the 2001
rape of an Asheville woman.

Mayor Terry Bellamy said this was not a problem created by the "rank
and file" who "were out doing their best, trying to get bad guys."

"I think it's important to note that changes should be made and will
be made," Bellamy said.

She made her comments after the City Council voted unanimously
Tuesday night to pay $175,000 for the audit to be conducted by Mike
Wright, a former crime scene analyst with the Buncombe County
Sheriff's Office, who now runs Blueline Systems & Services, LLC.
Wright will look at the evidence room's nearly 14,000 high-risk items.

Hogan said Wright, "is ready to move very, very quickly. I think he
understands the importance of that."

Hogan said the cost could likely be covered by drug seizure money,
something confirmed late Wednesday

Under the drug seizure program, the federal government and local law
enforcement agencies share money taken during drug arrests to buy
things such as police firearms, surveillance equipment and computers.

City Manager Gary Jackson, who is responsible for hiring and firing
most municipal employees including the police chief, issued a rare
public statement, saying he was "shocked and disappointed" about the
evidence room.

"Right now, the city's main focus is completing a full audit of the
evidence room as quickly as possible so the criminal justice process
can resume. We take the district attorney's concerns very seriously,
and we share his sense of urgency to complete the investigation.
Based on the results of the audit, we will take every necessary step
to ensure the security of evidence," Jackson said.

Vice Mayor Brownie Newman and City Councilman Cecil Bothwell echoed
the need to get the full audit done to determine what is missing and
who might be responsible.