PRECINCT COMMANDER TARGET OF PROBE

Suspension Comes After Questioning On Thefts From MPD Evidence Room

Federal investigators probing thefts of drugs and money from the
Memphis Police Department property and evidence room have turned their
attention to a police commander, officials said Thursday.

Insp. J. D. King, who until 11 a.m. Thursday was commander of the
department's North Precinct, is the target of a criminal investigation
into the mishandling of evidence at the facility, according to a
statement from Police Director James Bolden.

King was relieved of duty with pay pending the outcome of the
investigation. He was questioned at the North Precinct on Thursday
morning. The investigation is being led by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, the Drug Enforcement
Administration and Memphis police.

"This is part of our continuing efforts to maintain our standards of
integrity and ethical behavior" within the department, Bolden said in
a written statement.

"Great strides have been taken to bring integrity to the department,
and part of that includes the prevention of public corruption," he
said.

Insp. Joseph Laurenzi, a 36-year veteran of the department, will
replace King as North Precinct commander.

Agents familiar with the case said at least two search warrants were
executed Wednesday in connection with the case, one to a business. It
was not known if evidence was obtained.

King, a 25-year-veteran of the department, was the major in command of
the property and evidence room and the supply room from 1998 to 2000.

The scandal broke in September when 16 people, including Police
Department civilian employees, were named in federal grand jury
indictments linking thefts from the property and evidence room to an
Atlanta-based cocaine ring.

The indictments allege theft in the property and evidence room from
early 2002 to September 2003.

The thefts came after a 1999 audit that found lax security and sloppy
controls. The audit came in response to a corruption scandal in the
department's Organized Crime Unit.

At the time, police officials promised to reform the way evidence was
kept and safeguarded.

More than three years after that blistering audit, the facility
remained vulnerable to thieves.

A new audit was requested by the department early last year when
allegations of thefts surfaced. A final report from state auditors is
due within weeks.

Statements to investigators by a key player in the corruption, Kenneth
W. Dansberry, brought the thefts to light. He pleaded guilty in
federal court last month to an array of drug conspiracy and money
laundering charges.

Dansberry, the civilian day-to-day supervisor of the property and
evidence room from 2000 to last September, admitted in court to
stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in money and drugs from the
room.

He told investigators he stole cocaine, marijuana and money "so many
times (that) I don't remember."

He told investigators that he once sold a 10-kilogram load of cocaine
to an accused drug dealer off the loading dock under the Shelby County
Jail.

The drugs were slated to be destroyed, but were instead diverted by
Dansberry.

Dansberry told investigators that he paid two other employees of the
property and evidence room $100,000 in hush money. Those two
employees, along with an employee from the supply room, await trial.

Dansberry said he provided drugs to a former civilian police
department employee.