FIREMAN REINSTATED DESPITE 2 ARRESTS

A former D.C. fire cadet assigned to the firehouse that routinely
provides support for helicopter landings at the vice president's
mansion was reinstated this month after being arrested twice on
charges of drug possession, distribution and resisting arrest last
year. Kevin. E. Steve, 23, pleaded guilty in Montgomery County in
October to possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy and
marijuana. He was handed an 18-month suspended sentence and placed on
probation for two years. The sentence stemmed from a June 14 incident
in which police stopped Steve at about 11 p.m. in Silver Spring for
driving 50 mph in a 25 mph zone. According to charging documents, a
search of Steve's car turned up a paper bag filled with 17 baggies
containing white pills that police later determined were the drug
Ecstasy and 12 small baggies containing marijuana. Steve was carrying
$795 in cash, and two burned marijuana cigarettes were in the
ashtray. Two months later, on Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. in Capitol Heights,
two Prince George's County police officers on routine patrol saw
Steve sitting on a parked motorcycle that had its plates turned
inward. The officers thought the motorcycle might be stolen and
approached Steve to ask him about it. According to court records,
Steve backed away from the officers as they approached. When an
officer ordered him to stop backing away, Steve ran down a hill. "As
he ran, he reached to the front of his pants and grabbed his waist
line," one of the officers stated in court records. The officer said
Steve fell, "simultaneously throwing the contents of his pockets to
the ground." The officer said he ordered Steve to lie on his stomach
and put his hands on his head. "The defendant refused, remaining on
his side, and reaching for his waistband," the officer said. "I then
employed the use of my ... baton, striking the defendant in his upper
arm, ordering him again onto his stomach." At that point, Steve complied.

Police recovered two Ziplock bags containing about $80 worth of
marijuana, $1,201 in cash and three cell phones. Steve was charged
with a felony count of intent to distribute marijuana, as well as
possession of marijuana and resisting arrest.

On Sept. 27, a judge dismissed the felony charge in exchange for
Steve's entry into a drug-treatment program. Prosecutors dropped the
remaining misdemeanor charges in December . Sources in the fire
department say that after the charges were dropped, Steve was made to
sign a "last-chance agreement," meaning that if he got into any more
trouble, he would be fired. Steve returned March 6 to his assignment
with Truck 2, which is housed at the quarters of Engine 1 at 2225 M
St. NW. Truck 2 and Engine 1 are part of a detail that responds to
helicopter landings at the vice president's mansion on the grounds of
the Naval Observatory in upper Northwest. Firefighters say responses
to the mansion are routine and can occur as often as two or three
times a week. Eric Zahren, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service,
declined to comment on the situation or on the agency's screening
process, other than to say that federal officials work in partnership
with local authorities, who provide the personnel for such details.
D.C. fire department spokesman Alan Etter said there are no
additional screening requirements for firefighters who work on
details with sensitive security requirements. Steve joined the fire
department through the troubled cadet class of 2001. The Washington
Times recently reported that another member of the federally funded
cadet program, which gives jobs to at-risk youth, was charged with
two counts of murder in Prince George's County after DNA connected
him to the 2003 killings of two elderly women in a Suitland flower shop.