TWO LOUDON COUNTY OFFICERS ARE INDICTED

Pair Face Extortion Charges In Traffic Stop;
Chief Deputy Calls It Politically Motivated

LOUDON - Chief Deputy Tony Aikens and Deputy Paul E. Curtis, indicted
on extortion charges that Aikens alleges are "trumped up" and
politically motivated, will remain on duty, Sheriff Tim Guider said
Wednesday.

Aikens, 46, and Curtis, 35, are not accused of taking money for
themselves.

They are alleged to have coerced Eddie W. Witt of Soddy-Daisy into
contributing more than $9,000 to the Loudon County Sheriff's
Department Drug Fund after a traffic stop in 2002. Law enforcement
agencies use such funds to finance antidrug operations.

Witt, 54, listed as Eddie Wayne Whitt on Loudon County Sheriff's
Department records, successfully sued the sheriff's office for the
return of the $9,649.25.

Aikens said he will ask for a speedy trial. "I want my day in court,"
he said.

"We can't wait to get this into court," added Craig Garrett, one of
Aikens' attorneys. Garrett and Aikens' other lawyer, Scott Jones, said
they will seek a quick dismissal of the case.

Guider said he decided to leave Aikens and Curtis on duty because the
incident in question was investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of
Investigation and no wrongdoing was found.

"Since this is a closed investigation, I am not going to subject these
officers to administrative leave," Guider said.

Witt was charged with two weapons crimes, involving a handgun and a
switchblade knife, and three traffic charges following the incident.
Those cases are pending.

Aikens, flanked at a press conference by his family, Guider and
numerous Loudon County officers, charged that the indictment was a
political ploy by 9th Judicial District Attorney General Scott McCluen
to silence him.

The indictment was returned Tuesday.

Aikens, who is vice mayor of Lenoir City and a candidate for county
mayor, has been a vocal critic of McCluen.

Once the case is in court, Aikens said, "the people of the 9th
Judicial District will see what kind of attorney general they have.
And they will remove him from office in 2006."

The News Sentinel was unable to reach McCluen on Wednesday.

However, he told WBIR, Channel 10, that he had nothing to do with the
indictment, that Witt brought the case to the grand jury himself.

McCluen also told WBIR that he could not comment on the merits of the
case, and that he was not trying to stand in the way of Aikens' effort
to become county mayor.

Curtis, who is a corporal, was returning from an out-of-state training
assignment and was not at the press conference.

Aikens became emotional several times during the press conference,
especially when describing how he was booked Wednesday into his own
jail and had to post $3,000 bond.

"I have done nothing wrong," said Aikens, who has been in law
enforcement for 24 years.

Under state law, money or property suspected of being tied to the drug
trade can be seized and held pending a Tennessee Department of Safety
hearing. A seizure may be avoided by a settlement, also subject to
Department of Safety review and approval.

Such settlements involve the property only and do not preclude law
enforcement officers from filing charges on a related criminal offense.

The law has generated controversy. Supporters say it lets law
enforcement use drug money to fight drug crimes, but critics say it
makes it too easy to seize property from people who have committed no
crime.

On June 20, 2002, Curtis stopped Witt on Interstate 75. A search of
the car turned up a bank bag containing $19,649.25, and a drug dog
"alerted" on the vehicle, but no drugs were found, Aikens said in a
2003 News Sentinel story about Curtis' lawsuit.

In that story, Aikens told the News Sentinel that after being told of
seizure laws, Witt initiated an offer to settle by keeping his vehicle
and $10,000 of the cash and voluntarily signed the forms to do so.

Loudon County never filed an answer to Witt's lawsuit and simply
returned the $9,649.25 from the drug fund. Loudon County also paid
Witt's legal fees.

The lawsuit alleged that the $9,649.25 placed into the drug fund
included $500 that was substituted for a specific $500 bill taken from
Witt that was a collector's item and worth more than face value. The
settlement documents included return of that bill in exchange for a
$500 check from Witt.