TAPE REVEALS TALKS OF DISK

WILMINGTON - Federal prosecutors Wednesday played a tape on which Lumberton
police Lt. Leon Oxendine can be heard saying, "See, I'm the one who planted
the disk."

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 is accused of having a computer disk planted inside the home of a
suspected drug dealer. The disk holds an image of a $100 bill. Testimony in
the trial has indicated that because of the image, the disk could have been
used as evidence for a counterfeiting charge.

Prosecutors played the tape during the testimony of former Lumberton police
officer James Jordan.

Jordan agreed to testify against Oxendine in deals with state and federal
investigators. As part of the deal, Jordan allowed investigators to record
conversations he had with Oxendine and other Lumberton police officers.
During a conversation recorded Feb. 14, 2003, Oxendine tells Jordan not to
worry about being charged because Oxendine was the one who planted the disk.

Court ended Wednesday before Oxendine's lawyer, Woodberry Bowen, could
cross-examine Jordan. The cross-examination probably will happen today.

Bowen appears to have plenty to work with. Jordan pleaded guilty in January
to misdemeanor resisting a public officer as part of his deal with
investigators. Federal authorities agreed not to prosecute Jordan as part
of the bargain. Jordan will be sentenced in state court after Oxendine's trial.

Jordan resigned from the Lumberton Police Department in 2003, ending a
four-year stint. During his testimony Wednesday, Jordan admitted lying
initially to state and federal investigators about the disk. He testified
that when the SBI and FBI began an investigation into allegations of
evidence planting, Oxendine told him not to tell the investigators
anything. Jordan said he didn't cooperate at first because, "I was told not
to." But his conscience ate at him, Jordan said, and he eventually told
investigators the whole story. He agreed to wear a wire.

"I told them that I had been told that the disk was planted and I had come
to the conclusion that it had," Jordan told the jury.

Earlier in the trial, prosecutors played a tape in which Scott LaClaire, a
police informant, mentions to Jordan that the disk had been planted. Jordan
testified that when he asked Oxendine about LaClaire's allegation, Oxendine
told him that informants are not always reliable.

In his cross-examination, Bowen questioned the reliability of key
prosecution witnesses, including LaClaire. In his testimony, LaClaire
admitted that he agreed to testify against Oxendine to keep himself out of
prison.

Testimony showed that LaClaire has an extensive criminal history and has
spent 10 years in prison for various crimes. Other prosecution witnesses,
including James Todd Adams and Albert Allen, admitted on the stand that
they used and sold drugs. Both also have criminal histories, which could
present the jury with credibility issues.

Volunteer informant

LaClaire testified that he volunteered to help the Lumberton Police
Department in 2001. He said he did so because he recently had been released
from prison but had other charges that he knew could send him back.
LaClaire told Oxendine that he could help police catch Adams, a suspected
drug dealer. Adams allegedly sold drugs out of a house at 11 Albion St.

LaClaire testified that he told Oxendine that he knew of a disk that
contained an image of a $100 bill. Oxendine told LaClaire to bring the disk
to him, and later told

LaClaire to plant the disk in the house on Albion Street, according to
LaClaire's testimony.

Police obtained a search warrant for the house and raided it Sept. 6, 2001.
Jordan was among the officers involved in the search. He testified that, in
the briefing before the raid, Oxendine told the other officers, "There's
supposed to be a disk in the house. If it's in there we're going to take it
and turn it into evidence, but we're not going to talk about it."

Oxendine, 51, is a 26-year veteran of the Lumberton Police Department. He
was placed on administrative leave without pay in January 2003. Oxendine
was indicted by a federal grand jury in April.

Testimony continues this morning at 9.