DEPUTY PLEADS GUILTY SOLD COCAINE TO JAIL INMATES

HARRISONBURG - A former Warren County sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty
yesterday to selling crack cocaine to work-release inmates he supervised.

Kevin Glin Kinsey, 23, of Front Royal admitted guilt to five federal
drug-distribution counts in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg as part of a
plea deal with prosecutors. A sixth count against Kinsey, of conspiracy to
distribute illicit drugs, was dropped as part of the deal.

He faces up to $5 million in fines and up to 100 years in prison when
sentenced.

Kinsey was fired from the Warren Sheriff's Office around the time the
federal case became public, sheriff's Maj. Bill Chapman said. He had been
working part time as a Warren deputy for less than a year when allegations
of his drug activities became known. The county of about 32,000 residents
lies in the northern Shenandoah Valley.

Hired in April 2002, Kinsey was transferred that summer to help supervise
the county's Restitution and Inmate Development Program.

Inmates in the program are allowed to go to their jobs during the day but
return every night to sleep in a dormlike setting apart from the jail.
Deputies supervised inmates alone in shifts. Kinsey worked from 4 p.m. to
midnight two to five days per week.

During his shifts, Kinsey distributed crack cocaine, accepted drugs from
inmates for personal use and falsified drug and alcohol tests for inmates,
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Bondurant said in court.

The deputy used the jail phone to set up drug deals and once tipped off an
inmate to a raid planned for the inmate's home, Bondurant said.

Warren County police learned about his activities in September. They called
in the FBI to look into Kinsey's dealings.

Federal investigators recruited an informer released from the jail's work
program. The informer set up five crack-cocaine buys with Kinsey in December
and January that led to the federal charges, Bondurant said in court.

Since his February indictment, Kinsey has completed a 30-day substance-abuse
program in Winchester and now lives in a halfway house, according to his
attorney, Timothy Coyne of Winchester.

"He is doing very well in the program," Coyne told Judge James C. Turk. Turk
ordered the former deputy taken into federal custody after his stay in the
program ends next month.

Turk did not set a sentencing date at yesterday's hearing.