BUREAU OF NARCOTICS OFFICIALS' PAY INVESTIGATED

JACKSON - The former deputy director and the chief of operations of
the state Bureau of Narcotics were allegedly paid thousands of dollars
in questionable overtime and compensation, the agency's own
investigators have found.

A report of those findings and others, reviewed by The Associated
Press, have been turned over to the state Attorney General's Office
and the state auditor for investigation.

Deputy State Auditor Norman McLeod says the investigation, which
covers a range of allegations from records fraud to misspent drug
fighting money, has no timetable for completion.

According to the MBN report, former deputy director Ronald Pitts was
paid $4,587.36 on Aug. 8, 2002. That was compensation he claimed was
owed him by the bureau before he retired, although his account
differed from the state's by 152 hours. Rather than perform an audit
to find the source of the discrepancy, Pitts allegedly ordered that he
be paid the full amount.

The report also says former chief of operations Bill Taylor was
overpaid $3,211.70 for 111 hours of overtime. Much of that time was
claimed from the bureau's marijuana eradication system for times of
the year when marijuana does not grow.

The report called Pitts' and Taylor's claims "excessive" but
investigators did not have access to logs and diaries to verify the
allegations against Taylor and Pitts made in an internal memo written
earlier this year that outlined the investigation.

"Those allegations are totally untrue," said Mark Carroll, an attorney
representing Pitts and Taylor in a lawsuit against MBN director Frank
Melton and agent Warren Buchanan.

That lawsuit was filed in April over a memo that outlined details of
the investigation.

Melton was not available for comment Thursday about the latest
investigation revelations.

And in a related development, McLeod said no wrongdoing has been found
so far in the transfer of two airplanes from the bureau to state
agencies on the Gulf Coast. Investigators were looking into
allegations that the airplanes were transferred at the request of a
former aide to U.S. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., in exchange for
political favors.

The internal report said Pitts received $18,568.25 in overtime above
his base salary of $63,000 in 2001. Taylor received $30,304.91 in
overtime above his salary of $60,000 for the same period, the internal
investigation found.

Taylor left the bureau in April 2002 and Pitts left that August,
before Frank Melton replaced Donald Strange as director of the bureau.

The MBN probe has so far resulted in the resignation of agent Gary
White and the termination of Jimmy Saxton, who headed the bureau's
marijuana eradication program.

Investigators found that among the questionable items bought with
counter-drug funds were 1,728 golf balls, 144 golf starter kits, 600
knit shirts and three leather jackets.

Saxton, who was fired earlier this year, was accused of fraudulently
changing records to increase his overtime pay. He is appealing the
termination.

White, who was accused of giving Saxton helicopter lessons without
being a certified teaching instructor himself, resigned earlier this
year.

Saxton, Pitts, Taylor and former agent Robert Earl Pierce are suing
Melton and Buchanan over the April memo outlining the allegations
being probed. They say Melton and Buchanan leaked the memo to the
press, and that the memo's allegations contained "materially false,
libelous, slanderous and defaming material" against the four.