MPD THEFT PROBE GROWS AUDIT INDICATES PROBLEMS AS EARLY AS 1999

Stolen drugs and other goods may have been going out the back door of
the Memphis Police Department's property and evidence room for five
years or more, with proceeds used to purchase expensive homes and cars
in three states.

Federal indictments unsealed Tuesday say the crimes occurred between
February 2002 and last week, and link three current or former property
room workers to a cocaine ring with ties to Atlanta. And federal,
state and local officials on Wednesday would not comment on the scope
of the investigation.

But as far back as 1999 a state audit of the police Organized Crime
Unit cited inadequate controls over the recording of confiscated cash
in the property room. An internal audit noted "severe storage and
overcrowding problems." Auditors said cash, guns and narcotics were
not removed from the property room on a timely basis and marijuana was
found on the floor. Police promised to fix the problems.

And it was learned Wednesday that one of the 16 defendants is a former
property room worker, Patrick D. Maxwell, 32. He faces federal cocaine
charges.

In 1998, Maxwell worked as an attendant in the property room making
$18,975 a year. His resignation letter that year said he was leaving
for work that put his talents to better use.

On Tuesday, federal agents seized Maxwell's three-story mansion in
Lithonia, Ga., an Atlanta suburb.

The two current employees who were indicted, both on charges of
financial crimes, were property room shift supervisor and 21-year
veteran Kenneth Dansberry, 41, and Carl Edward Johnson, 42, a senior
inventory control clerk who was hired in 1999. Both made less than
$34,000 a year.

More than $1 million in cash was confiscated from Dansberry's home and
car in a raid on Tuesday. Federal raids in Memphis, Olive Branch and
the Atlanta area thus far have yielded 29 vehicles - from luxury cars
to 18-wheeler trucks - as well as jewelry, cash and real property in
Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia.

Memphis police referred all questions to the FBI on
Wednesday.

Dansberry and Johnson have been "relieved of duty," pending the
investigation, FBI spokesman George Bolds said.

"This is a significant investigation, absolutely," Bolds
said.

The investigation is the cooperative effort of Memphis police, the
FBI, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Drug Enforcement Administration and
the IRS Criminal Investigative Division. The U.S. Marshal's Service,
the Shelby County Sheriff's Office, the Bureau of Immigration and
Customs Enforcement, and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation are
assisting.

The property and evidence room was closed Wednesday as state auditors,
brought in by Police Director James Bolden, combed through records.
Bolden, who took the department's top job in March, had initiated the
federal investigation after receiving a tip from within the Police
Department.

No one could predict how long the investigative audit by the state
comptroller's office could take.

Police spokesman Officer LaTanya Able said people who seek the return
of stolen items from the property room could see a delay of up to two
days in obtaining their property. "We're working with limited access
because of the audit,'' she said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gen. James Challen said his office doesn't know
what impact the investigation may have on pending cases.

"We will have to look at every case individually but we don't
anticipate a lot of problems,'' he said.

Property room thefts are not uncommon in police departments, said Joe
Latta of Burbank, Calif., executive director of a company that trains
law enforcement agencies on how to maintain property and evidence rooms.

He said property rooms across the country contain literally "billions
of dollars" of guns, money and narcotics that often prove to be a
temptation to workers.

"It becomes easy money to get to because we don't always have the best
controls in place,'' he said.