WITNESS SAYS DISK WASN'T HIS

WILMINGTON - Albert Allen testified Tuesday that he would have had no
reason to keep a computer disk in his house at 11 Albion St. in Lumberton.

He said he has never owned a computer and does not know how to operate one.

Allen was the third witness called by the government in the trial of
Lumberton police Lt. Leon Oxendine.

Oxendine is on trial in U.S. District Court. He is charged with tampering
with a witness, making false statements to the FBI and five counts of
making false declarations before a federal grand jury. All are felonies.

Oxendine, 51, has worked for the Lumberton Police Department since 1978. He
led the department's Selective Enforcement Team until he was placed on
administrative leave without pay in January 2003. A federal grand jury
indicted him in April.

Federal prosecutors contend that Oxendine instructed Scott LaClaire, a
police informant, to plant the disk in Allen's house Sept. 6, 2001. The
disk contains an image of a counterfeit $100 bill.

Lumberton police investigators suspected that another man, James Todd
Adams, was selling drugs out of Allen's house. LaClaire testified Monday
that Oxendine told him he wanted the disk planted in Allen's house so
police could charge Adams with counterfeiting, a federal offense. LaClaire
testified that he planted the disk in the bathroom of Allen's house.

He said police instructed him to buy drugs from the house, but LaClaire
said he was unable to find any there. LaClaire said he bought drugs at
another house in the neighborhood. Lumberton police, including Oxendine,
obtained a search warrant and raided Allen's house later Sept. 6, 2001.

Allen testified Tuesday that he was not at home at the time of the raid but
was stopped near Interstate 95 about the same time as part of the
investigation. Allen said he was handcuffed and taken to the Lumberton
Police Department, where he waited for two hours. He said investigators
never interviewed him and he wasn't charged. Allen testified that he had
not seen the disk that was seized from his house until the trial.

Sgt. Tal Barnett of the Lumberton Police Department testified that the
search warrant for the house on Albion Street did not make reference to a
computer disk. Barnett testified that Oxendine mentioned the disk in a
briefing before the raid. Barnett said he didn't see a computer in the
house but did see another officer with the disk in the bathroom.

Defense Questioning

Woodberry Bowen, who is Oxendine's lawyer, has used cross-examination to
discredit civilian witnesses such as LaClaire and Allen. In his
questioning, Bowen brought out that both men have criminal histories and
were drug users and dealers. LaClaire has spent about 10 years in prison.

LaClaire, a key witness for the government, also admitted in his testimony
that he had lied to investigators about where he acquired the disk.
LaClaire said he told Oxendine that he found the disk at Adams' house, but
the disk was actually in his house. LaClaire said he only told the truth
about the disk when charged with obstruction of justice.

In his questioning, Bowen showed that for many months LaClaire said the
disk was orange and only remembered that it was black when it was shown to
him later. LaClaire also admitted that he was testifying in deals with
federal and state investigators that include the dismissal of some state
charges.